It Started With A Book
by Dolphinlight
Summary: Sometimes people lose their way and need a little help finding themselves again. Armin thinks one of his friends, who he once met in a library, may have lost herself, and he wants to help her. The only problem is they are in the middle of a violent war with the Titans…and he may be starting to feel something more than just friendship. ArminxOC. Rated T for language/violence.
1. The Journey

**Author's Note: Good Day Readers! I wanted to inform you of some very important things real quick before the story starts just so you all know what you are getting yourselves into.**

 **This is a romance story, with a bit of adventure, featuring our favorite blonde Armin Arlert and an OC of my creation. I noticed there aren't very many stories like this out there where Armin gets some love, besides the Armin x Annie stories (which, of the ones I've read, are very good!), and there are some good Armin stories that just haven't updated in like a year or more! I have become inspired to write my own to hold me over until Armin comes back in season 2 of the anime. Let's see how this goes!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) or any of its characters and themes!**

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Chapter 1: The Journey

The wooden wheels on the old, travel worn wagon creaked and groaned along the uneven stone path. The small blonde headed boy currently riding in the back of the wagon was jostled from time to time, but he didn't mind. Each time the wagon bounced and jarred him from his comfortable spot he suddenly remembered to look up from the book he was so engrossed in and pay attention to the new world around him. His bright blue eyes peeked over the rim of the cart and he watched the towering gate of Wall Sina slowly steadily creep closer and grow larger.

There were plenty of other things to look at too besides the ever present wall that spanned the horizon. He had never left home before, and every little thing captured his imagination. The people and houses were different somehow than they were back home. He was young and still didn't understand some things about the world he lived in, but he could tell just by looking that the inhabitants of Wall Rose looked like they had much nicer things and dressed a little nicer than the people he was used to seeing where he lived within Wall Maria in Shiganshina District. His mother had told him it would be like that, but that he shouldn't be envious of anyone. He should always be proud of where he came from no matter what. The boy couldn't help but wonder what it would be like behind Wall Sina, especially since the people in Wall Rose already looked so different.

The wagon bounced again and he eagerly jumped back up to see if they had gotten any closer. To his delight it looked like they had; the wall loomed even larger than before and he could make out the guards at the gate. The large toothed gate with the profile of a woman so elegantly etched into its surface was open and there were already a few wagons pulled by horses ahead of their own entering the gate. He got up on his knees and leaned out of the side for an even closer view, excitement lighting up his face. He had never traveled so far before! What an adventure he had been on, and it was far from over!

"Armin! Sit back down at once, dear. I don't want you falling out of the wagon," his mother scolded.

He reluctantly slouched back down, but still kept his eyes peeking over the wagon sides. He didn't want to miss a moment of crossing under the gate. Pretty soon they were right up under it and he raised his head up as high as he could to try and see the top. They passed through after his father spoke shortly with the guards. A few of the guards wore red roses on their uniform jackets, and a few others had a green colored horse with a horn coming out of its forehead on their jackets. Armin knew the creature was called a "unicorn" from one of the stories he had read. He also knew they didn't exist, though he wished they did; he'd love to see a unicorn.

His mother finally made him sit back down and he picked up the book he had been reading and examined it fondly, stroking the soft leather cover. It was one of his favorite and one of the few he had access too, but there was another book that his parents owned that he liked even more than this one. It was a secret book and he wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it, but he didn't really understand why. It was amazing and he was sure everyone in the world should see it. His parents had let him look at it a little, and what he had seen had astounded him. It was all about the world outside the Walls; way, way outside the walls. It was because of this book he wanted to see it, see the world outside. He vowed to himself that one day he would. First he needed to find a friend to go see it with him.

The wagon made its way down the crowded streets within Wall Sina and Armin eagerly gazed at all the new sights and smelled the new scents. It was even more different and unique than he could have imagined. The people here wore the strangest clothes with so many colors and decorations, like frills and baubles. Everyone was bustling and buying and it wasn't anywhere close to the slower and steadier life back home. They were buying such frivolous things too! Things like decorations for the house and extra sets of clothes in all different colors. His family spent the majority of their money on essentials like food and fuel. What little they had left over they saved for a harder year, and sometimes purchased a new book from the traders who came through town.

Eventually the wagon moved through the district and went through another equally impressive gate to arrive in Mitras, the inner most portion of Wall Sina. The tired old wagon moaned through the streets of the capitol city until it finally stopped its long and tired journey in front of a grand and ancient looking building with many pillars in the front, holding it up to the sky. Armin glanced at his mother, hoping to get the go ahead to get out of the wagon. They had been traveling all day to reach the Mitras Library by nightfall and he was ready to stretch his legs after the long ride. His mother nodded and he scrambled over the side, not wanting to wait for his father to lower the tail gate. While his father tied the horses to a post in front of the library, Armin let his eyes travel all over the magnificent building, taking in every detail so that he wouldn't forget it and greedily anticipating the sheer amount of books that he hoped to enjoy inside. This was the peak of their journey! The long awaited reward at the end of the quest! Armin wanted to rush forward and take a look right away, but he knew he should wait for his parents and didn't want to be rude by barging in to a place such as this.

A man suddenly appeared on the steps of the library. He stood there for a minute, taking in the scene below him, and then suddenly rushed forwards and approached Armin's father.

"Gerald! Please, don't leave the horses and wagon right there in the street. Come, follow me and I'll show you where you can put them," the strange man said and clapped Armin's father on the shoulder. "Stella!" he then called towards the building and a small woman emerged at the sound of her name. "The Arlert's have arrived! Could you please take Mrs. Arlert and her son inside? I'll be right there."

"Oh, yes of course. Marie, please come this way. Oh, is this your son, Armin! My I haven't seen him since he was a baby," the woman named Stella exclaimed as she came down the stairs and took Armin's mother by the hand in greeting. Armin immediately took refuge behind his mother's skirt as soon as the strange woman began gushing over him. He had always been a little shy around strangers.

"Yes, Stella, this is Armin. Armin, say hello to Miss Stella. She's one of me and your dad's oldest friends that I told you about on the way," his mother encouraged.

"Hello," the blonde boy said shyly and his face turned a little pink with embarrassment.

"Aww he's adorable, Marie. Well, come, let's go inside. I'm sure my girl is wandering around in there somewhere and it's about time they met. Now, tell me all about your trip here. It must have been tedious," Stella was saying to his mother as they walked into the enormous library.

Armin soon drowned out their words when his breath caught in his throat at the site of so many books together in one room. The library was tall on the outside for a good reason. Inside every wall was lined to the ceiling with books of all shapes and colors. Towards the middle of the room were nothing but even more shelves filled with even more books. At the very center were a few tables and chairs for readers to sit in and to the far side of the room was an extravagant wooden desk, probably used for record keeping and to keep track of the books that had were being loaned out. The feel of the room was warm and friendly, and of course, his nose was overwhelmed with the wonderful smell of leather, parchment, and glue.

Armin soon lost track of his mother as he moved towards the shelves, gazing up at how tall they were and at the interesting looking books that lined them. His small hand ran softly against the leather bindings of the books along the bottom shelves, the only ones he could reach due to his short stature. His wide blue eyes glistened in wonder and his jaw was slightly opened as he stared and walked along the long wooden shelves. It was so much more than he had imagined. Where on earth would he even begin to start reading? Out of so many choices, which would he choose first? Maybe they had books like the secret book his parents owned. That would certainly make a good beginning. He knew the reason his parents had made the long journey to Wall Sina, besides to visit their long estranged friends John and Stella Haize, was to show the two librarians the secret book about the outside world and to ask them questions about it. Maybe that meant there were more books here just like it and the Haize's knew more about the outside world because they had read them all. That's why his parents had wanted to come; they must have wanted to know more.

Excitedly, Armin began scanning the multitude of bindings with a purpose for anything that looked similar to the book about the outside world. He walked along the shelves faster, his eyes glued to the book titles, moving up and down and back and forth. He was so focused on his task that he didn't notice a small figure moving rapidly in his direction until it was too late. The two collided hard and Armin found himself on the floor, rubbing his backside where he had hit the ground, across from a young girl in the same predicament. She had had a stack of books in her hands and had obviously not been able to see where she was going. The books where now scattered around the two of them on the floor.

"Ow," he heard her say in a quiet voice, and he look up to see just who it was he had bumped into.

That moment was the first time he saw her and that his eyes met with hers. In the days to come, he knew deep down that he'd never forget it. Her eyes were a startling sky blue and they had a depth to them like he had never seen. Darker colors of blue lined the outside of her sky blue irises, and made her eyes look like he'd imagined the sea would look from the book about the outside world. Her pale colored face was framed with slightly wavy honey blonde hair, a few shades darker than his own yellow blonde, and she had a small upturned button nose in the middle of her rounded face. The two must have been staring at each other for longer than necessary because suddenly she blushed in embarrassment, red color rushing onto her pale cheeks, and turned her eyes quickly away from his. Her eyes then fell on the books scattered on the floor and she began to busy herself with picking them up.

Armin mentally shook himself and moved over to help her, which only seemed to make her even more nervous and her hands shook slightly as the two of them stacked the books into a pile on the floor. "Sorry I bumped into you and made you drop your books," he apologized softly when they had finished sorting the books.

Her eyes snapped up to his again at his apology and she gave him a small timid smile. "That's okay, I probably should have been looking where I was going," she replied just as quietly.

They stood up from the ground and Armin noticed she was probably around his age even though she was a little taller than he was. "I didn't realize there were still people here at the library. It's kind of late, don't you think?" the girls asked him curiously.

"Oh, um, I-I'm here with my parents. They're friends with Mr. and Mrs. Haize the librarians here. We just arrived," he explained, tripping over some of his words.

"Oh," she said, "Well is there anything I can help you find, sir?" Her voice and demeanor had suddenly shifted into helpful librarian mode and a serious professional look came into her eyes like she was doing her job by asking him if he needed help.

"Well," he said thoughtfully, "I was looking to see if there were any books about the outside world in this library." He assumed, due to her sudden mood switch, that she must know more about the library than he did, and since she didn't seem to want to say anything else about herself at the moment, he thought he might as well ask about the books he had been searching for. In reality though, he was suddenly just as curious about her as he was about the books.

"The outside world?" her face became confused as she thought about his request. "I'm not sure that I know—"

"There you are, darling! And you've found Armin too, what luck!" the two children snapped their heads towards the sound of Mrs. Haize coming towards them with Armin's mother in tow.

"Tori, darling, I'm sure you just met, but this is my good friend Mrs. Arlert's son, Armin Arlert," Stella Haize told her daughter as soon as the two women had reached the pair. "Armin, this is my daughter Victoria, but we all just call her Tori for short."

"Oh, hello, nice to meet you," Armin said holding out his hand to shake hers like he'd been taught when meeting new people.

"You too," Tori smiled and accepted his hand shake.

"And, of course, this is his mother, Miss Marie."

"Nice to meet you, Tori. I hope Armin hasn't been bothering you," Marie said.

"No he wasn't," the girl replied. Armin noticed she seemed to share his dilemma at meeting new people when she started edging politely towards her mother.

"Oh, Tori, how many times have I talked to you about not leaving your books lying around in the corridors? Please put them up and then come meet us at the front. We're going to head home soon," Stella softly scolded her daughter.

Armin felt a pang of guilt since he was the reason Tori had dropped the books in the first place, "I'll help you," he offered, feeling partly responsible.

"You don't have too, it's no trouble," Tori answered, bending to pick up the stack.

"No really, it's my fault you dropped them," he said and took half of the stack out of her hands.

"Awww, see Marie, they're already getting along so well! I just knew they would from what you told me about Armin. He sounded just like my Tori. Come on, let's go find the men and see to the carriage. I want you to ride back with us tonight and you can leave that uncomfortable old wagon here in the library stables with your horses," Stella informed Armin's mother and took her arm to escort her to the building's entrance.

Armin looked to his mother for confirmation that it was okay to help Tori with the books. He received her reassuring smile as she left with her friend and he turned to follow a silent Tori towards the back of the library. They went through a doorway into a small room and it was here that Tori placed the books on a desk. The room was full of stacked books in different locations and it looked to Armin like this is where the books were sorted to be placed back on the shelves in the main room. He looked at the stack of books in his hands and noticed they were all fantasy novels from the titles ingrained on the leather covers. Maybe Tori really liked fantasy? It was one of his favorite genres too, though he preferred factual books about geography and history.

"Where should I put these?" he asked.

"Oh, just anywhere on the desk. We can sort them tomorrow," Tori answered.

Armin set the books down. "Do you work here too, with your parents?"

She nodded. "Not officially, but I help around sometimes."

"Have you read a lot of the books?"

"Yes, most of the ones I can understand anyways. That's all I really do most of the time. My parents bring me here a lot since we live kind of far away in Orvud District."

"Why don't you live near here?"

"My dad says it's because we don't have as much money as the people in Mitras have."

Tori blew out the lamps in the room and then started to make her way out of the room and towards the front of the library like her mother had asked. Armin followed, even more curious about the obviously classy little girl who wasn't "rich" enough to live in Mitras. She clearly had much more than he ever had. Her clothes looked new like she had barely ever worn them and her shoes were in the same style as most of the people he had seen in the capitol. What she wore seemed to him to be of simple design, but he had noticed her mother and father wore more extravagant clothes and just seemed to radiate a certain royal attitude that was common to Wall Sina. It was so strange that her family would consider themselves poorer and not as privileged as other people from Mitras, when Armin was used to living on next to nothing compared to them. His parents had enough for the three of them to live comfortably enough in Shiganshina, but compared to the way people lived here…they might as well be beggars in the streets.

The walk back to the front of the building was quiet between to two children. At first Tori had seemed talkative and open, but he realized now that was not the case. She hadn't tried to engage him in any conversation, and he wasn't sure if it was because she was just that shy and nervous around him or because she didn't like him. He _had_ gotten her in trouble earlier with the books. He sure hoped she didn't hate him, because he really liked her. He wasn't sure exactly why, maybe it was because of the way she had smiled at him, or maybe he had seen something like a possible friendship in her eyes, but she seemed smart enough and she liked books as much as he did. If she warmed up to him enough maybe they could be friends.

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 _ **More Authors Note Ahead! You don't have to read it :)**_ _ **. I hope you enjoyed the story! If not, then…you know…don't read it either. I'd love to hear from you all about what you thought, and any advice you would like to give! Questions? Comments? All are welcome!**_

 **A/N:**

 **To the other ArminxOC authors out there: I apologize ahead of time if anything I write here seems similar to something you have written! I am not trying to copy anyone! I promise! Just let me know though if I'm treading on your turf…I can always fix that. And please continue to write and update your own stories! Of what I have read of them I like them all! **

**To Everyone: So this story will be a slow build up romance since I believe it's important to really build up a relationship and not move so fast. I haven't read much of the manga so I will base most of this on the anime until I can catch up on reading it.**

 **The story will take place during the normal time range and follow the events of SnK, but I will be filling in the time gaps and possibly do some AU towards the end.**

 **Sorry if I took a few liberties with Armin and how soon he knew about the book about the outside world. I know in the real storyline he tells Eren about it way later than what I have set up here, but for the story purposes I changed it around a little. Oh, and I took some liberties with Armin's parents since there really are no references about them.**

 **It is a belief of mine that you readers can really have a say in the story and any offers of ideas or advice will be most welcomed! This is one of the things I love about Fanfiction, the interaction between the author and the readers is close and meaningful. See you next time and Thanks For Reading!**


	2. The Friendship

Chapter 2: The Friendship

The two children made it back to the front of the library and joined their parents who were now outside on the steps. Both Armin and Tori's fathers had arrived, and as soon as Tori had left the building, her father closed the doors and locked them tight with a big brass key that he kept in his pocket. "Alright, friends and family, shall we?" John Haize said with his arms outstretched. He led the small group down the steps and towards a fancy looking carriage waiting at the edge of the glowing street lights.

The sun had already started to set, but Armin could still make out what the carriage and horses looked like that belonged to the Haize family. The carriage was twice the size of his own family's and it was painted in red and blue, where theirs was just bare wood. It was also completely covered and not open to the air. The Arlert family wagon did not have a built on roof, but you could put up a canvas covering for bad weather. The horses were also a sight to behold. They were gray and dappled with long silky manes compared to the Arlert's ordinary brown colored ones. It still amazed Armin that with all they had, the Haize family wasn't even really considered wealthy.

"Come on, Armin," his father said and put a hand on his small son's shoulder. "Mr. Haize has invited us to ride to their house with them tonight. Aren't you excited to ride in such a nice carriage?"

"Yes, but mom did say to be happy with what you have and never wish you were someone else," the blonde boy said so that his father would know that he wasn't ashamed of his life, just curious about how the wealthy lived.

Mr. Haize chuckled and said to Armin's father, "That's a real smart boy you've got there, Gerald. He'll do just fine."

Mrs. Arlert and Mrs. Haize stepped inside the carriage along with Armin and Tori, while the two men sat outside on the driver's bench to steer the horses. The inside of the carriage was just as interesting to Armin as the outside, with its cushioned seats and glass covered windows. The carriage moved off in a smooth motion and hardly creaked or groaned as it made its way down the stone road and towards the gate that would take them into Orvud District where the Haize's lived. At first Armin eagerly looked out the window like he had on the trip with his family, but eventually he grew tired of gazing out into the darkness, and the carriage seats were very comfortable, so he finally found himself drifting off to sleep due to a long day of traveling and the calming sound of the two women's voices as they chatted and caught up with each other's lives. The last thing he saw before sleep overcame him was Tori, curled up by her mother's side, and staring out the carriage window into the dark.

When Armin opened his eyes once again he was confused to find that he wasn't in his own bed at home. It took him a few weary seconds to remember that he was currently on a trip in Wall Sina and that the bed he had fallen asleep on was actually the seat of a carriage that belonged to his parent's old friends, John and Stella Haize. He remembered they had a daughter, and he suddenly sat up straight and checked his face, hoping he hadn't been drooling in his sleep as he sometimes did. That would be embarrassing in front of Tori!

Thankfully she wasn't even in the carriage anymore and his face felt dry. He sighed in relief and looked to see if they had left him there, but soon spotted his mother beside him. "We've arrived at the house, dear," she said. "You woke just in time."

Armin yawned and scrambled out of the fancy carriage, to only be once again amazed by the Haize's house in front of him. It wasn't as big as some of the enormous mansions and castles that he knew royalty lived in, but it was much bigger than the one roomed house he and his parents lived in back home. It had two stories and was built with stone integrated in with the wood in some places, and there was also a small path that led to some impressive stable behind the house for the horses and carriage. It was rather dark outside, but Armin could see the house was situated in a more populated part of Orvud District and that the Wall loomed close by.

As the two men left to stable the horses, Armin found himself following his mother inside the large house. The inside was spacious and roomy. A warm fire was soon lit in the fire place by Mrs. Haize, and she instructed her guests to have a seat on the chairs in the main room while she would go and prepare dinner. Armin's mother refused and insisted on helping her friend in the kitchen, which left Armin and Tori on their own for awhile in front of the fireplace.

"Tori, why don't you take Armin and show him where the guest quarters are. That's where he'll be staying the night with his parents. Then you can show him around the house a little. Make sure to show him your room, too. He might like to see some of the things you have collected," Tori's mother said as she poked her head into the room and broke up the awkward silence that had been developing between the two shy children.

"Ok, mom," said Tori. "Follow me," she said to Armin and turned to go through a doorway on the right. Her mother smiled as she watched the young blonde boy follow Tori off into the rest of the house and then she went back to her friend in the kitchen, telling Marie that the two children should get along fine, they just needed a little help to get to know each other better.

Tori led Armin to the guest room, lighting candles and oil lamps along the way to chase away the darkness. "So here's where you'll be staying. It's really nice even though you can't see it as well as when the sun is shining through the windows," she told him.

"It's much nicer than the room in my house," Armin told her.

"Really? What's your house like?" the girl asked him.

"Um, it's much smaller than yours and made all out of wood. We've only got one big room with everything from the kitchen to where we sleep. But we partition things off with wooden panels sometimes for privacy," Armin said, looking around the room with its two large soft beds and a small rug on the floor.

"Oh, I've read about homes like that. Mom said that you were from Shiganshina and that the people who live there don't have as much as we do…oh, I'm sorry I shouldn't talk about it!" Tori exclaimed and put a hand over her mouth in shame that she had mentioned the fact that his family wasn't wealthy.

"No it's alright, it's fine," Armin reassured her with a smile. "We just live in two different worlds. That doesn't mean I don't want to talk about it and it doesn't mean either of us is better than the other because of where we live, right?"

"No, I suppose you're right. I just didn't want to offend you or make you think I'm bragging or something," she trailed off looking down at her feet and then back up to his face to see if he had gotten angry at her words.

"Like I said, I'm not mad," Armin replied. "Want to show me the rest of the house?" he asked to lighten the mood again.

Tori nodded and beckoned for him to follow her again. She seemed to relax just a little more around him after their conversation as she started to show him the other rooms downstairs and then lead him upstairs to the families rooms. He guessed that maybe she had been so hesitant around him before because she wasn't sure how careful she should be with his feelings. He was, after all, from a much poorer family than she was and he had never known the luxuries she had been privileged too. She just probably hadn't wanted to say something on accident to offend him. Armin honestly didn't mind. Sure there were things she had that he wished he did, like the giant library to spend all day in and such a large house to explore, but he was happy with who he was and he wouldn't give up what special things he did have, because of where he lived, for anything.

"This is my room," Tori explained when they came to a smaller room at the end of the hall upstairs. When she had lit the lamp in the room Armin finally found something in Tori's life he might actually be jealous of. Her room was pretty awesome, and it must be nice to have a private sanctuary to make your own where you can retreat after a long day. Although it was a little more girly than he would like, he still admired what she had done. There were a few shelves of select books along the walls and a small bed was under the window. She also had a desk to one side with many different articles and objects on top of it and many little drawers running down the sides.

Tori stood in the doorway and watched Armin inspect everything with his curious eyes. "What's in the cabinet? If you don't mind me asking," the boy said to her.

"It's where I keep the things I've found and collected. I could show you," she said.

"Yeah, sure."

Tori moved over to the big brown desk and started showing him some of the things that were lining the top. "This is a very interesting rock I found one day in the big grassy area near the pond we have in town. See how it sparkles? Like there are diamonds inside. My dad said they weren't real diamonds, just rock crystals that were created under a lot of pressure," she explained and handed him the rock so he could see it better. Armin turned it around in his hand, appreciating the object, but Tori had soon moved on to showing him the next piece of her collection of odd finds. She continued with each object, telling him where she had found it and what she had discovered about it. There were many of them, from other colorful rocks to different types of feathers and sometimes a coin or a piece of broken pottery. She even had a few flowers flattened in between books and the dried remains of butterflies.

"These little blue flowers are my favorite," she told him while showing him the flattened blue wildflower between the pages of a book. "My mom calls them "blue bell" flowers and she said there are fields of them in Wall Maria. Is that true?" she asked Armin.

"Yes, I've seen these before," he answered, inspecting the flower. Even though it was crushed he could still see that it was a beautiful deep blue color and resembled a bell in shape.

"I wish I could go see them," Tori sighed longingly.

"You've never been to Wall Maria?"

"No, I've never been anywhere but here my whole life."

"Why is that? It seems like your parents could afford a trip," Armin said, amazed that a girl with so much hadn't traveled more often.

"Well, they're basically the only two people for miles around that can maintain a library like the Mitras Library. They tried to ask people to come in to learn and help out, but no one really seems that interested. That's why we can't really leave."

 _Not interested? In such a magnificent place filled with so much knowledge?_ Armin wondered.

"I love the library, but sometimes I just wish I could go see what else is out there. They describe it in books and stories, but that's not the same as seeing it for yourself," Tori finished regretfully.

"I'm sure you'll get to travel someday. You do have your whole life a head of you," Armin said, handing her back the book with the flower in it.

"Yeah," she said with a smile at the blue bell. "When I finally do, will you show me the blue bell fields?"

The two kids looked up and met each other's eyes, blue on blue, and Armin smiled at her, saying, "Of course I will, it's a promise."

Tori smiled back, realizing that this strange boy from a strange place she had only ever heard people talk negatively about was probably the kindest and most humble person she had ever met. His smile was genuine and warm, not fake and forced like so many of the local kid's and adult's smiles were. His eyes were friendly and she could tell just by looking at them that he hadn't lied when he had made his promise. He was so unexpected. She hadn't thought someone from Shiganshina could be like this, and she suddenly felt bad for acting so distant and standoffish towards him earlier. She was like that at first with people, because that's the way they were with her, but Armin had never treated her in any way other than truly politely and courteously with genuine concern and interest in what she had to say. His parents were nice like that too. How could everyone have been so wrong about people like him who had to work hard to scrape by? Was it prejudice? Was it because they looked down on them so much that they treated them disrespectfully and spread lies about the way they lived and acted? Did it really come down to who had the most money and who didn't?

Before Armin and Tori's conversation could continue, their mothers called them to dinner. Tori led Armin back out to the main room of the house where the six friends gathered together for the evening meal. The two families, complete opposites in so many ways, were so similar in the only ways that counted. They laughed and shared stories and knowledge together and simply enjoyed each other's company around the table. Tori and Armin were still a little shy around each other, but the little blonde girl decided that in the morning she would try her best to be more open and friendly towards him. She wanted to be his friend, because the people of Wall Sina had no idea what kinds of friendships they were missing out on.

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 **Hi readers!**

 **We will see more of Tori's perspective later, but I ended this chap with a little bit of it to introduce her more.**

 **So what do you think of the story so far? One more chapter after this and I'll start getting back into the normal timeline of the series. Please leave your lovely reviews and tell me how I'm doing! I love to hear from you all.**


	3. The Division

Chapter 3: The Division

When Armin opened his eyes the next morning he was surprised to find himself looking into a pair of soulful chocolate brown eyes he had never seen before. Did the Haize's have one more family member he hadn't met yet? All of the sudden something rough and wet dragged itself across his cheek and the blonde boy sat up straight in his bed in a hurry, alarmed that whoever it was _had just licked his face._ He heard a thumping sound and his brain finally woke up enough to tell him that there was a very friendly tan colored dog with big brown eyes and a happily wagging tail sitting right in front of him on his bed. The dog's tongue rolled out of its mouth and then it tried to repeat its previous offense by attempting to give Armin another wet kiss on the face.

"Waggy! There you are! Get off the bed and away from Armin right now," a startled Tori gasped from the door of the guest room where Armin and his parents had spent the night.

The young girl approached the bed and grabbed the overly excited dog by his leather collar, dragging him off of the bed and back onto the floor. "Sorry about that, Armin. I hope he didn't scare you or anything. He's really friendly and likes to meet new people."

"No, its fine," Armin said and couldn't help but giggle a little as he wiped dog slobber off of his face with the sleeve of his shirt. "I like dogs; I didn't know you had one. Is he yours?"

"Yes, I rescued him from Mitras when he was a puppy. They usually don't like strays running around the capitol and I don't know what they would have done to him if I hadn't found him and convinced my parents to let me bring him home," she explained and patted the dog lovingly on the head as he sat by her side with a content expression on his doggy face.

"That was really kind of you to rescue him. Why'd you call him Waggy?"

"Because, he wags his tail like all the time, see?" she said.

Armin glanced at the dog's wagging tail. It was a big, long tail, and it swished back and forth at incredible speeds. "It's a good name for him," Armin agreed.

There was a small silence and then Tori asked, "Do you have any pets?"

"No," said Armin. "Just the horses but they're not really pets. My dad says we shouldn't waste our money on buying food and things for a pet like a dog."

"Oh, that's too bad. I'd be so lonely if I didn't have Waggy to keep me company sometimes."

Another awkward silence started to develop again and then Tori said, "Anyways, I came here to wake you for breakfast. We are going back to the library afterwards. I think your parents have something to show mine. That's why you all came in the first place."

"Yeah, I know," said Armin, scrambling out of bed and making his way to the kitchen with Tori and her happy dog.

"Do you know what it is they're going to show my parents? Nobody told me anything," Tori asked.

"Mmmhmm," Armin nodded. "It's a secret book that my parents have had in the family for a long time. It's all about the outside world," Armin told her in a whisper, though he wasn't really sure why he felt he had to whisper it to her. It wasn't like anyone who didn't already know could hear them. Maybe because it was so secretive he felt like acting it out.

"The outside world? That's what you asked me about yesterday when we met isn't it? You were looking for more books about the outside world?" Tori said back to him in a whisper, catching on to his secretive talk.

"I thought that if my parents wanted advice from your parents, then there must be some other books about it in your library," Armin answered.

"I've never heard of any and I know just about every book in there. What is the outside world? Where is it?"

"You know," Armin said, stopping in the hallway and waving his hand in the general direction of the Wall, "The lands on the other side of Wall Maria."

Tori looked at him with widening eyes. "I don't think we're supposed to talk about that," she whispered.

"Why not?" Armin asked, confused.

"Because…there are titans out there…"

"Tori! Armin! Where are you two? We have to hurry up and eat so we can open the library on time," Tori's mom called from the kitchen.

Tori immediately dashed off to the kitchen, obviously disturbed by the way their conversation had started going. Her oblivious dog followed happily at her heels. Armin followed more slowly, wondering why she had such a look of fright on her face when he had mentioned the world outside. Sure the titans lived out there, they had for hundreds of years, but that didn't mean you shouldn't wonder and talk about what might be outside the walls. He had seen amazing and wonderful things in the secret book and he hoped his parents might let him borrow it so he could show Tori what she was missing out on. It's not like humanity could live within the safety of the walls forever. Somebody needed to go out and explore, maybe they could find a way to stop the titans if they did.

After breakfast the six of them piled back into the fancy carriage and set off for the Mitras Library. Waggy had to stay home because he wasn't exactly the classiest of dogs and wouldn't be allowed in the capitol. He wagged his tail and his tongue lolled out of his mouth as Tori said a heartfelt goodbye to him and then scrambled into the carriage. As soon as it was out of sight, the dog turned away and went about his own doggy business until his family came back home.

This time Armin got to watch the world go by since he could see out the windows of the carriage in the bright morning sun. They soon passed through the gate from Orvud into the capitol and arrived at the beautiful library building. John Haize took the carriage around to the back and the rest of the group entered the library. Armin and his parents helped Tori and her mom open everything up and set up for the day. Armin noticed that his dad carried around a satchel that no doubt contained the secret book inside. He wondered how he might go about getting it so he could show it to Tori. Pretty soon the four adults went off to talk about the reason for the Arlert's visit, and Tori took Armin on a tour of the library and showed him where each genre of books were kept and how they were filed.

"What's your favorite kind of book?" Armin asked, even though he had secretly guessed it was probably fantasy based on that stack of fantasy novels she had been carrying yesterday.

"I like fantasy and adventure," Tori said. "How about you?"

"Fantasy is really great and I do like to read it, but my favorite has to be historical books, and definitely books about geography."

"So you do really like to read too? I wasn't really sure when I first met you. I thought you would be just like all the other kids who think books are stupid and boring and that I was weird for liking them so much and spending all my time in the library."

"No way," Armin chuckled. "I love to read, only I don't really get that many books since it's hard to get them in Shiganshina…and I don't think you're weird at all! You seem really nice."

"Thanks," Tori blushed. "You're one of the first boys I've ever met to think that. Hey, I have an idea! Since you don't really have that many books at home I could show you some really good ones you might like and then maybe my parents will let you borrow them."

"Okay," Armin replied happily. "If you're sure they won't mind. I don't want them to worry that they might get damaged or anything. I wouldn't be able to return them very easily either since I live so far away," he added disappointedly after he had given some thought to the details. Her parents probably wouldn't want to risk giving him any books to take back.

"Nonsense, of course they'd let you borrow them! Your parents and mine are really good friends and they trust you guys. Besides, this way you'll have to come and visit us again someday to bring them back."

"Yeah!" Armin said, eyes lighting up again. He would love to come back to visit the library and Tori. Maybe his family could make it a traditional trip a couple times a year and then that way he could still see Tori and she wouldn't forget about him.

The two kids quickly darted off down the aisles and Tori started to collect various books from shelf after shelf and handed them to Armin as she explained what each one was about to him. She gave him a collection of history books and books about the geography of the walls as well as a few fantasy books she thought he would particularly enjoy. Armin was just thrilled to have someone he could finally talk to about his true passions. Tori may have been a little quiet at first when she didn't know him, but now she was talking to Armin like they were very old friends and she was excitedly telling him about each book she chose and why it was good. She was equally excited about being able to enjoy somebody's company without worrying about them thinking she was strange and not wanting to be her friend. With Armin she felt like she could be herself and tell him everything. He was incredibly kind and warmhearted and he smiled and laughed at the funny things she said and listened intently to the descriptions she gave him and the stories she told him, and she in turn did the same for him.

Pretty soon the two of them were sitting at a table with a stack of books surrounding them; sorting through them and choosing the books that Armin should definitely take with him. They had collected a lot of books and he certainly couldn't take them all back in one trip.

"Alright, but you have to take at least one of my favorite fantasy books back with you so you can tell me what you think and we can talk about it," Tori said after noticing Armin had chosen a majority of historical books to take with him.

"Okay, which one is it?" the boy asked.

"Ummmm…aha! This one for sure," she replied, pushing a book towards him where he sat across from her at their table.

" _The Adventures of the Green Knight,_ " Armin read the title out loud. "Is it any good?"

"Of course! I did say it was one of my favorites didn't I? It's about a knight who goes on a lot of exciting adventures to find out that he's— well I don't want to give it away. You read it and find out, but it's all fantasy, adventure, and even a little romance," she winked.

"Haha, ok," Armin laughed. "I'll read it. Hey, I can give you a book of mine to read too so we can have even more to discuss."

"Are you sure? I know you don't have that many."

"With all these that you're letting me borrow I won't even notice, I promise!" Armin said excitedly. "Let me just go get it, it's in my father's wagon."

"Okay," Tori said, but Armin had already dashed off to the stables behind the library where his father had stowed their wagon yesterday. This was the most fun he had enjoyed in a long time and he wanted to share some of his joy and appreciation with Tori by lending her his favorite book.

The young boy soon found the wagon and retrieved the book with the worn leather binding that he had read so often. He knew most of it by heart anyways and it was worth it to let Tori borrow it so that he could have someone to talk about it with. After grabbing the book, he made his way back inside, only to discover the room where his parents and the Haize's had been talking was open. He didn't see anyone around, but what his eyes did land on was the secret book about the outside world just lying on a table. The gears in Armin's head started turning. Would they notice if he took it? He usually didn't do things like this without permission, but Tori was waiting for him and he really wanted to show it to her. How much trouble could he really get into after all? Without thinking Armin grabbed the book and darted back to Tori's table, holding it close to his chest along with the book he had retrieved from the wagon.

"Armin, where were you? You took a little longer than I thought you would," Tori said when he approached the table.

"Look what I found," Armin said in a hushed tone and showed her the secret book.

Tori gasped, "Armin, is that _the_ book?"

"Yes," Armin breathed. "I want you to see it so that you won't be so afraid anymore of what's really out there. It's really an amazing place."

"But, Armin," Tori said, her voice wavering and that look of fear and suspicion came back into her blue eyes. "Didn't your parents ever tell you it was, you know, bad luck to talk about this sort of thing? The titans are out there and they don't like it when you start to get curious about their lands. We should just leave it alone and be happy with what we have and that we're safe behind the walls."

"That's ridiculous. It's that kind of talk that's going to keep humanity locked up inside the walls forever. We weren't meant to live stale old lives like this. We were meant to explore and grow and find new places to be. Look, just let me show you some of it and if you really don't like it I'll take it back," Armin assured her.

He sat down in the chair right next to her and opened up the book, excitement flowing through him just to see it again. He had, after all, only been able to really look at it once before, but he remembered every detail. He flipped to the first chapter which described probably his most favorite part in the entire book. "This is called the sea," he told Tori and showed her the picture the author had drawn on the page. "The author says it's a large body of water that covers more than half of the world and stretches as far as your eyes can see. It's water, but it is full of so much salt that it could probably never all be collected and used."

"Wow," Tori said. "Is that really true?"

"Yes, and there's even more. There are these strange creatures that live in the sea and they can't survive in regular water. Here's one, called a 'dolphin.' It's like a fish, but it's not scaly and cold blooded, see?" Armin explained.

"Can I see more of the book?" Tori asked. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she was all of the sudden no longer afraid of the titans and the superstition that surrounded them. All she wanted to know was more about the outside world.

Armin smiled excitedly and turned the page to the next description of tiny pieces of land that jutted out of the sea called 'islands.' After he showed Tori the islands he turned to the next page and then the next after that one, always pausing to make sure she wanted him to go on, and she always did. Tori couldn't stop looking at the book. She couldn't believe what she had been missing. The descriptions of the lands and seas and fields of sand were memorizing and her adventurous spirit, the one that was only able to show itself when she went hunting for items to collect or when she read a good adventure story, was suddenly growing full and strong. This one special book had opened her mind to so much more and she knew she had to go out and see it. She glanced at Armin as he explained the passages to her. This one special boy had shown her what she had wanted down deep in her heart her whole life, she just now realized it. This was why she read so many fantasy and adventure stories. She wanted more than the life trapped behind the walls and she had read those books to try and find an escape. Now she knew there really could be a way out, maybe one day when she was older she could find it. It seemed to her that Armin felt the same way by how he read the book to her with such enthusiasm.

When Armin and Tori were about halfway through the book they began to hear raised and angry voices resounding through the library. Their heads shot up and they looked around the room and then back at each other, wondering where all the commotion was coming from. Armin started to get an uneasy feeling deep in his chest. By the look on Tori's face, he could tell she was worried too. Nobody yelled and shouted in a library without good reason, and the voices had sounded like their parents.

"Maybe they found out the book was missing," Armin said uneasily.

"They don't know you took it?" Tori exclaimed.

"No one was around to ask, besides I didn't think it would be that big of a deal," Armin explained.

"Armin, I don't think you really understand. There's a reason I was so hesitant and, well, afraid of this book when you told me about it. I don't know what it's like in wall Maria, but here in Wall Sina people don't ever talk about things like the outside world. Any books or information about it is locked away and it's frowned on to be too interested in things like that. The preachers around here worship the walls and believe they are some sort of gods here to protect us," Tori nearly hissed at him in an effort to stay as quiet as possible but still get her point across.

"But if they only knew what it was really like…people can change, right? They just need to see it for themselves, see that there's more than the walls…like you did when I showed the book to you," Armin protested.

"Not everyone is like me, Armin. I read and explore as much as I can without getting in trouble or making people suspicious, but I've never tried to cross the forbidden line."

Armin was now slowly starting to realize why his parents had wanted to keep the book a secret. He hadn't known people didn't approve of exploring and pushing out of the walls as much as they did. He knew the Scout Regiment always seemed to be frowned upon even by people where he lived, but he had thought it was only because people felt they wasted too many resources. Now he realized it was because people were afraid of what was out there and didn't like the Scout Regiment venturing out where they shouldn't. What he didn't understand was why they wanted to spend their entire existence inside a cage when there was so much out there to see.

He was about to ask Tori how she felt about it all when his parents, followed closely by Tori's parents, rounded a corner and came in full view of the children. They were obviously not happy and appeared to be arguing.

"It doesn't matter what you say, John, or how many stupid superstitions you hold on too! You don't have any authority over me and have no say in what I chose to believe!" Armin's father shouted at Tori's.

"I'm just trying to be the reasonable and responsible adult here and tell you that what you are thinking is suicide, if not just for you then maybe for our whole society! Things like this were never meant to be stirred up; you should leave well enough alone!" John Haize yelled back.

"That's why we came to you, we thought out of everyone are oldest friends would understand and want to help us do this correctly," Marie, Armin's mother said. "Remember how we used to dream about it when we were kids? What happened to that? Now that we have the book those dreams could become reality, we just needed your help."

"We've already tried to tell you nicely that you're crazy for even thinking it!" Tori's mom shot back. "We were young and stupid back then, nothing we said really meant anything, and it was just all childish talk."

"I can't believe that's how you truly feel, after all this time and all we've been through together, to just back out now because you live here in this poisonous place that has turned your hearts from adventure and the betterment of mankind to keeping the status quo and living out your luxurious lives," Gerald, Armin's dad said disappointedly.

"It's not our fault this is how it ended up, Gerald. It was an opportunity we couldn't let down, and you chose not to be a part of it," John replied.

"No, because I knew what this place could do to you, and I was obviously right about it," Gerald said. "We'll just be on our way back home then. We can do it without your help."

Tori's father looked shocked and was struggling to find something else to say to convince his best friend to give up his crazy dream and stay, but the look on Gerald's face told him he'd have better luck arguing with a brick house. Tori's mother solved his problem of being at a loss for words when she suddenly spied her daughter and best friend's son sitting just a few feet away from them with frightened expressions on their faces…looking at a very familiar open book on the table.

"Tori! Get away from there right now!" she yelled frantically and was by her daughter's side in an instant, yanking her away from Armin and the table. "How much of those lies did you see? How did you get a hold of _that book!_ "

Tori couldn't speak; her mouth gaped like a fish as her mother shook her, searching her small round face for the answers she desired. Armin's father immediately swooped down on the table and snatched the book away from Armin. He glared at his son and used a tone that he had never before used with the boy and that he later regretted. "Armin! Why did you take this without permission?!" he yelled so loud at his son that Armin nearly toppled out of his chair.

"Your son showed that book of heresy to our daughter!" yelled John Haize equally loud. His face was a furious red color. "I was going to let this go, Gerald, I was going to write it off as another one of your crazy schemes and just send you on your way and see you next year when you've got it out of your system, but now you've gone too far! You let your son see it and he showed it to my little girl! Do you have any idea what that could cause?!"

"No, you know what; I'm done with this whole thing. If you want to take your family on an expedition outside the walls to get eaten by titans just because you read about all these wonderful things in a book, that isn't even true, be my guest. Go on out there without any plans or guidance and get yourself killed. I won't care, my family won't care, no one will care because as far as I'm concerned, you don't even exist anymore. So just take your book and get out. I don't want to see you ever again," John said with his hands running through his hair and over his face. He had gotten surprisingly calm after his sudden outburst.

"Fine," Gerald Arlert replied, equally calm and with an evenly toned voice. "You won't see us again."

The two families, who had gotten along so well the night before despite their differences, now faced each other in silence with nothing but regret and remorse occupying the space between them. The two men stared at each other with stony faces and Tori's mother held on to her daughter's hand tightly and sadly shook her head. Tori stood stock still, eyes almost as wide as her face with tears streaming silently down in two little rivers over her cheeks. She didn't say a word, she didn't look at Armin, but all Armin could do was look at her.

He had made his way over to his mother during the argument and he now stood partly behind her, tears pouring from his eyes as well. It was all his fault! If he hadn't taken the book and shown it to Tori then maybe his and her parents could have parted ways but still remained friends. Now they hated each other and he would never see Tori again. How could he have been so stupid! Why didn't he stop to think things through! He should have realized that the Haize's would be opposed to the outside world, Tori herself had told him so. He should have suspected it the moment he saw how nervous she was about the book.

But he couldn't help it. He had wanted to see her eyes light up in wonder at the descriptions of the outside world and he had wanted to make her smile and share the amazing things he had discovered. Now she wouldn't even look his way, though he pleaded with his eyes, hoping that if he stared at her long enough she'd have to glance at him. Then he could tell her how sorry he was that he had caused the end of their friendship.

And just like that, as soon as the Arlerts had arrived, they were packed up and ready to make the long journey back home. Armin's dad had the horses hooked up to the old creaky wagon and his wife was already arranging things in the back. Stella Haize had brought out some food to last the Arlerts a few days back saying that just because they were parting ways didn't mean she wouldn't show them a parting courtesy.

Armin stood on the stone pavement in between the Mitras Library and his family's wagon, torn by what he had to give up. Tori still hadn't said a word to him the whole time his family was preparing to leave. She was inside the Library right now, out of sight, and Armin didn't know what to do. He didn't want to leave without saying goodbye. He didn't want to leave at all, but his parents had always taught him to accept the consequences of his actions. If only he could turn back time!

"I…I just wanted you to know that I won't contact the authorities about…your plans," Armin heard John Haize say to his father.

"Thank you, John. I'm sorry it had to end this way," Gerald Arlert replied with a pained expression on his face.

John wanted to say more, he wanted to tell his old friend that no matter what he did or what he believed, their friendship could still last, but the words never came. With a sharp pain in his heart like a part of himself that had been there for so long was being ripped slowly away, he walked stiffly away from Gerald and went to stand by his wife. Gerald sadly watched him go, wishing he had been able to say something else as well, but the two of them were just too different now.

Marie and Stella couldn't interfere with the decisions their husbands had made. Each woman stood by her man in the end, even though hot, painful tears of parting with each other trickled from their eyes. Stella hoped they would be alright. She hoped they would change their minds. She didn't want to lose her friends, but how else was she supposed to convince them they were wrong unless she stood by her beliefs and opposed their plans. She just hoped they wouldn't drag their young son along with them into the dangers that were beyond the walls.

Finally, the Arlerts were ready to leave. "Armin, let's go, dear," his mother called to him where he still stood motionless between two worlds. The young blonde boy turned to join his parents, regret and sadness building up in his young heart, when suddenly the doors to the library banged open and a small honey blonde girl raced down the steps, calling his name.

"Armin! Wait!" she yelled. She had a book in her arms and her eyes locked with his as he turned back, his heart suddenly beating faster and hope building up inside to overcome the sadness.

"Tori," he smiled quietly. "I thought you wouldn't come say goodbye. I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for messing everything up. I shouldn't have shown you that book. It's all my fault."

"I'm glad you showed it to me," she said. "And I'll never forget it. I'm going to go see the outside world someday because of you, no matter what my parents think. And I'll never forget you."

At her words, all the guilt he had felt faded away and he looked at her with grateful eyes. The hope that had built up in his heart now had a permanent place and he just knew deep down that he would see her again someday, somehow, even if his whole world ended. "I'll never forget you either, Tori."

"Just to make sure you don't, here," she said handing him the book she still held.

Armin looked at the book and saw the words " _The Adventures of the Green Knight"_ inscribed on the cover. "Tori, I can't take this, it's your favorite and I won't be seeing you again in like, forever."

"It's ok, Armin. I've read it enough to know it by heart and I want you to read it too, so that when you're done you'll have to come find me and give it back someday. Just like we planned."

Armin couldn't begin to describe the feelings that washed over him at her sweet act of kindness. She still wanted to be his friend no matter what her parents or his said and she still believed in everything he had told her. "Wait here," he said and rushed to his small pack in the wagon.

"Armin, we have to leave, son," his father said when Armin started rummaging through his things.

"Just one more minute, dad," he said as his hands closed on the object he had been looking for and he rushed back over to Tori.

"I want you to take this," he told her and handed her his own book; his favorite book that he had planned on loaning her in the first place.

Tori smiled, taking it from him. " _The Branches of the Military and their History,_ " Tori read the title of his book out loud. "Okay, so we'll each hold onto each other's books and promise to give them back to each other someday, alright?" she added.

"Right," Armin confirmed. He offered her his hand to shake on their little deal of friendship, but at his gesture, tears suddenly sprang back into Tori's eyes and instead of taking his hand she threw her arms around his neck. Her warm tears spilled onto his shirt as she hugged him tight and he found himself returning her hug, if only slightly embarrassed to be hugging a girl in front of his and her parents.

"Goodbye, Armin, and thank you for showing me the outside world," she said after she finally let him go.

"You're welcome, Tori. Thank you for sharing it with me. I'll see you soon, don't worry," he answered, tears starting to pool in his eyes now.

Tori nodded, and slowly turned and went to stand with her parents in front of the library. Armin turned and climbed into the wagon next to his mother. The two children clutched their new books close to their hearts and watched each other fade away into the distance as Armin's father started the wagon on its journey home. Armin stared at the spot he had last seen Tori long after she had disappeared from view. He couldn't wait until he met her again. She would still be the same, they wouldn't change no matter what and they wouldn't forget; he was sure of it. They would always be friends, and the world, try as it might, wouldn't pull them apart.

* * *

 **Or so Armin thinks…but a lot can happen in a couple years…things like Titan attacks! Dun, dun, dun! Long story short, backstory is over and now we pick up where the actual storyline of the series begins.**

 **Hey do you think Armin is a little too "booky"? I know he was never really described as being obsessed with books but I had to make him rather fond of them for the purposes of the story. Tori is allowed to be book obsessed because I created her** **.**

 **Anyways, please review and give me your thoughts. All ideas are appreciated and helpful. Ask me any questions you'd like! Find out what happens in the next chapter!**

 **(Anyone notice the dolphin cameo? You know, because I love dolphins! Sorry, I couldn't resist.)**


	4. The Fall

Chapter 4: The Fall

Steam arose hot and thick into the sky and Armin stared wide eyed in fear and disbelief as the enormous Titan raised it's ugly head right over the top of the wall. _It was over, it was all over…they were all going to be eaten!_ How could this have happened? He had just been talking to Eren about how humanity couldn't stay behind the walls forever, something would happen sooner or later…and something definitely had. They were no longer safe.

Before he knew it people were screaming and running and scrambling over each other to try and get away. The giant red faced Titan had kicked a hole in Wall Maria and he could see the looming figures of the smaller Titans starting to enter Shiganshina to gorge themselves on human flesh. He couldn't seem to move, he was frozen, watching the horrendous sight unfold before his very eyes. And then Eren and Mikasa were no longer with him and he was very alone amongst the turmoil. He had to find help! Eren probably ran off to save his mother. His house was in the direction some of the rubble had landed.

Armin thought fast and suddenly found enough of his wits to dash off and look for help. He found Mr. Hannes almost immediately and told him to go help Eren while he looked for his grandfather. Hannes nodded and started off in the direction of Eren's house, while Armin ran to his own home in a panic. _Why? Why was this happening?_ It was like John and Stella Haize had been right all those years ago. His parents had left the walls to see the outside world, the Scout Regiment was pushing to gain even more ground, and now the Titans had breached the wall.

John and Stella Haize…he hadn't thought about them in so long. They had a daughter… Tori…he had been her friend. What was she doing now? Did she know the Titans had breached the walls? Would he even make it out alive?

The blonde shook his head clear of those thoughts and kept on running towards his house, dodging people all around him. He had to focus on staying alive and finding his grandfather.

The noises all around him were overwhelming. The sounds of people screaming and calling for each other, sounds of rubble and buildings crumbling, and the loud thundering footfalls of the Titans as they slowly advanced into Shiganshina, destroying everything in their path on their hunt for human flesh, haunted his thoughts and flooded his ears.

Armin's lungs were on fire when he finally reached his house he looked wildly around for his grandfather, the only family he had left apart from Eren and Mikasa.

"Armin!" he heard his grandfather's voice and he turned sharply to see the older man coming his way. "I was looking all over for you, hurry let's go. We have to make it too the boats and get out of here!"

"Wait, shouldn't we take some things with us?" Armin asked, thinking about supplies and provisions and the personal effects of his parents, all he had left of them.

"There's no time and there's no room. They are going to have to get as many people on board those boats as they can and we can't take up any space with belongings, now come on!" his grandfather yelled.

Armin had already been going back into the house to try and save at least something of his parent's when his grandfather came after him and grabbed him by the collar, dragging him out of the house and towards the Wall gate. "I already lost your mother and father, and I'll be damned if I lose you too! I made them a promise to look after you and I'm going to keep it," the old man said through clenched teeth.

Armin allowed himself to be dragged away with nothing but the memories in his head of what was once his warm and loving home. His eyes had swept the room one last time before he was forced out of it, and the last thing he had seen was a book…the book Tori had given him. Now he'd never be able to return it to her. Out of all the turmoil and pain that surrounded him at that moment, he couldn't understand why that one little fact suddenly seemed to bother him more than anything else.

Armin and his grandfather reached the gate that lead to the interior of Wall Maria. They quickly got in line to board the already overfilling boats that would take then even deeper into Wall Rose where they would be safer. Armin watched the Garrison Regiment prepare cannons to defend the gates until everyone could get out. The soldiers of the Garrison were trying to be brave, but Armin could see their hands shaking and how some of them were fumbling while trying to set up the cannons.

The blonde boy searched the crowd for his friends, Eren and Mikasa. Mr. Hannes should have them by now if all had gone well. The fact that he couldn't spot the green-eyed boy and the solemn girl with the bright red scarf in the crowd worried him immensely. He scanned the faces of the crowd long after he and his grandfather had a place on one of the boats. Where were they? The Titans were coming! Had something gone wrong? He didn't think he could bear it if his two best friends had gotten hurt, or killed. They were always there to pick him up and help him when he was in trouble. Though he resented them for it at times, they didn't deserve to meet a terrible fate at the hands of a Titan. They were strong and brave with kind and courageous hearts. If anyone got eaten it should be him. He was weak and cowardly, no one would miss him in the world except his grandfather and his two friends. But they would all move on and he wouldn't be there to drag them down anymore. He wished he could be more like them and more like his parents who had gone out into the world despite all the warnings and took a chance to make their lives better.

"Sit, Armin," his grandfather told him.

"But Eren and Mikasa still aren't here," Armin said.

Suddenly, Armin's eyes caught a flash of red and he focused in on the color to find it was a red scarf wrapped tightly around the neck of a raven haired girl. Mikasa! Right next to her was his best friend Eren.

"There they are!" he started to wave at them, but they didn't look his way. Then Armin saw the looks on their faces and stopped waving while slowly lowering his hand back down to his side. Eren looked like a dead man walking and there was a tear on his face. He didn't look at anything but the ground in front of him as he walked slowly forward onto the boat. Mikasa, who was usually so emotionless, looked sadder than he had ever seen her. She too looked at the ground, and occasionally glanced at Eren as if she thought he would disappear at any minute. Eren's mother was nowhere to be seen.

With dread in his heart, Armin started to make his way over to them, but he felt his grandfather's hand on his arm. "Leave them be for now, Armin. They look like they need to be alone. They must be traumatized."

Armin nodded and watched his friends sit down against a wall on the boat. Eren had his head in his hands and Mikasa watched him silently.

A commotion started up at the gate and Armin snapped his head around to see the Garrison soldiers in a panic to shut the gate. A few were protesting the decision, not everyone had made it out, but it was too late and the gate started to slowly lower…but to no avail. Loud thundering steps could be heard and before anyone could react, a massive Titan bowled through the closing gate and sent the pieces of the gate, wall, and people it had destroyed flying in every direction. The Titan had what looked like armor covering its body and it stood in a cloud of dust and steam, watching the small boats hastily make their way down the river. Wall Maria had been over taken just like that.

The screams of the thousands of people that had been left behind echoed through the heads of all those who had been lucky enough to escape. Armin now sat with his friends on the slow moving boat to Wall Rose. Eren was strangely quiet, and then he stood and made his way to the railing of the boat.

"I'm going to…" he said as he walked with anger in his voice.

"Eren, what's gotten into you?" Armin said. Mikasa had a worried look on her face.

"I'm going to drive them out! Every last one from this world!" the young boy yelled with fury in his hard green eyes and tears streaming down his face. There was such hate and anger in him, that Armin grew afraid of his friend. There was a fire in his eyes, a fire to kill and destroy. But what could they do, they had lost everything. They were children, they were weak. They'd have to find a way to be strong.

* * *

The news reached Wall Sina in a matter of days. Wall Maria had been breached by the Titans and its citizens had either fled to Wall Rose for safety or had been devoured. Wall Maria had been completely abandoned and humanity had taken a hard hit that day. Refuges were reported to be pouring into Wall Rose and the economy was struggling to support them. How long could they all last?

Though the news was devastating, most of the citizens of Wall Sina were just relieved the refuges weren't pouring in there. Sure it was a tragedy, but they still had important lives to live. Surely the titans couldn't get past Wall Rose, so there wasn't much to worry about and they went on with their days, gossiping about the news.

Tori ground her teeth in frustration and fear. Shiganshina…they had hit Shiganshina first. She had a friend in Shiganshina that she hadn't seen for many years, but now she was sure he was dead. There was no way anyone could have survived. The girl sat in her room, her tan colored dog at her feet, and clutched the worn leather book he had given her so many years ago. She thought about the bright blue eyes and the warm heart full of curiosity and friendship that she had known for only a short time. A tear escaped from her eyes…now she knew she would never see him again. She could never give him back his book; he'd never be able to take her to see the blue bell fields like he promised. She stood up from her bed and went to stare out of her window, looking off into the distance towards the direction Shiganshina was in. She set her face in determination, suddenly angry at the Titans and at the selfish people of Wall Sina. Her fists clenched and she held the book to her chest, promising herself that she would see the outside world, and she would do it for Armin.

* * *

Armin and his grandfather, along with Eren and Mikasa, trudged down the boat ramp among the thousands of other refuges from wall Maria. They had nothing but each other. Eren's mother had been eaten, Mikasa's parents were long dead, and no one knew where Eren's father was or how to contact him. They didn't know where to go or what to do, so they ended up trying to find a place to rest for awhile, and collect their thoughts after the tragedy.

Pretty soon the government felt they should do something about the refuges and sent in officers to try and find housing for them all and to ration out food. Wall Maria had been the main staple for crops and livestock for all of humanity. Now that it was gone there were going to be food shortages and rationing was important. More often than not, Armin and his family went hungry and had to sleep in the street when there wasn't enough food or when they were kicked out of housing to be moved somewhere else that wasn't even set up yet. The four of them struggled to survive.

Eren had already been mad enough to strike out at some of the Garrison soldiers a couple times, and each time Mikasa had to hold him back and Armin had to apologize for him. Armin couldn't blame him for being angry, the loss of his parents was more recent to him than to Armin and Mikasa, who had lost theirs long ago. Eren had even gone so far as to call Armin weak and a coward for backing down so easily to the bullying of the Wall Rose Garrison soldiers and for starting to give in and not wanting to fight back. It hurt the blonde boy to hear such things from a friend he trusted and counted on, and even though Mikasa scolded Eren for saying those things and told him that they were all weak and that it wasn't his fault, Armin knew Eren had been right about him, he was starting to back down and become cowardly.

* * *

Tori sat at her usual table in the Library her parents ran for the city. She was reading another one of her fantasy novels, but she kept the book Armin had given her close by even though she had already read it several times. It was all about the different branches of the military that protected the walls and how they had come to be.

She already knew a lot about the Military Police, they made up the majority of the military presence where she lived. Most of them mean, rude, and just wanted to be left alone to do their own thing. She learned her lesson to never have anything to do with them if she could help it. The only thing they had going for them was safety and the guarantee to never have to deal with Titans directly.

The Garrison Regiment protected the walls and were in charge of supplies and equipment. They had an important job, but they were nowhere near as exciting as the Scout Regiment! Those were the brave men and women that ventured out into Titan territory to take back lands for humanity. Those were the people she admired most. In fact, if she could get away with it without her parents finding out, Tori hoped to join the Scout Regiment some day. That was her plan to get a chance to see the outside world like she had promised Armin she would.

Thinking about Armin made her sad, and she suddenly didn't feel like reading anymore. He was certainly eaten by a Titan. The Haize's hadn't been in contact with the Arlert's since that day they had split up at the library. She didn't even know if his parent's ever went on their trip to the outside world. None of that mattered now though. No one was going to be going outside the walls for a long time now that Wall Maria had been destroyed and suspicions were at an all time high. That's why she had to join the Scouts. They were the only ones who still ventured out, and she might as well take down some of the Titans that had murdered her friend while she was at it.

* * *

Armin tried his best to drag the heavy planting spade through the packed dirt, but being only ten years old and as weak as a blade of grass was making his farming assignment rather difficult. The sun was hot and scorching his back through the thin shirt he wore, and he had sweat trickling down his face and causing his hair to stick wetly to his head. Next to him, Eren struggled less with the actual labor, but more with the fact that he was being forced to do it. His eyes were angry and he hacked viciously at the dirt. Mikasa had been put on water duty somewhere else, but she could probably do a better job at the plowing than the two of them put together.

"Armin," Eren said and threw his spade to the side. "Let's go get some water or something. This is dumb and we're not doing any good here anyways."

"But we were assigned to work here today until the job was finished," Armin pointed out, secretly hoping Eren would dissuade him from the work, it was agonizing.

"Screw that, no one's the boss of me," Eren replied hotly.

"If we don't do our part we won't be able to eat. Everyone has to do their share so that there will be enough food to go around. That's why we were assigned to the fields," Armin argued.

"Well I want a different job to do. I am just a helpless child, after all. It's not like they're going to keep food from me," came the boy's sarcastic remark.

"They might, times are desperate," Armin said quietly.

"Well I want to help humanity in a different way, a better way! I want to destroy all the Titans and then we won't have to do all this miserable plowing. Besides, I'm pretty sure all those fat rich people in Wall Sina have all they can eat and more. There's probably plenty of food to go around, why don't they share?" Eren retorted and then angrily stomped off towards the water barrels.

Armin got tiredly to his knees and followed, knowing there was no sense in arguing with Eren about his thoughts on how to help humanity. Eren had always wanted to join the Scout Regiment, he shared Armin's passions about seeing the outside world and breaking out of the cage they were forced to live in, but they were too young right now. All they could do now was do as they were told and hope to get by. It was probably true what Eren had said about the people behind Wall Sina. Armin had seen it first hand for himself, and he couldn't imagine people like that going hungry. Did Tori feel that way? Did she sit in her big house and eat all the food she could want and forget about the people from Wall Maria, struggling to survive? He couldn't imagine that she did, not of what he about her. But she was only a child in this world just like he was and there probably wasn't much she could do about it.

* * *

The newborn baby boy squealed and cried in Tori's arms when she held him for the first time. Her parents had just given her a baby brother and she couldn't be more excited. It had been just her and her dog, Waggy, for so long, but now she would have a new friend to go on her adventures with.

The baby opened his eyes and stared at her blue ones with his light brown, caramel colored eyes. When he saw his big sister, he stopped crying and a smile appeared on his chubby baby cheeks. He giggled and his face turned red as he tried to reach out for Tori's hair. Oh yes, they would be the best of friends.

"What are we naming him?" she asked her parents who stood nearby, watching them.

"Samuel," said her mother.

"I like that name, I can call him Sam for short," Tori said.

* * *

 **So, originally I had this chapter and chapter 5 all together in one chapter, but realized it was way, way too long so I split them up. I'm skipping around through Tori and Armin's lives and just hitting some of the major highlights that I feel like are most important to the story. Also, I'm sticking with Armin's point of view through the known events of his timeline, since we all already know exactly what happened to Eren and Mikasa. Hope you liked it! Make sure you read chapter five! It really ties some things up.**

 **MaybeAYoutuber: Thank you so much for your amazing review of my story! I don't think you said too much at all, it was great ****. You have no idea how thrilled I was to receive it! Anyways, I hope your question was answered by reading this chapter! Also, you guessed half of the reason she is joining the military, you'll find out the other reason why in chapter 5.**


	5. The Decision

Chapter 5: The Decision

A group of boys pushed Armin hard against a wall and he struggled to keep from sliding down to the ground. He was familiar with this kind of treatment, but he had always had Eren and Mikasa to save him before. He wasn't sure where they could be today since they had all been assigned to separate places to work that afternoon.

"Come on, baby, you gonna fight back now?" taunted an ugly boy with dirty hair.

"Why don't you call your mommy to come save you? Oh, that's right, you don't have one. You're an orphan!" another bully jeered at him.

"I am not! I have a family that cares for me! That's probably more than you can say," Armin shouted back. He wouldn't fight them, he wouldn't make it worse and he didn't want to be like them. But he regretted his words since they only served to infuriate the bullies even more.

"You can't talk to us like you're better than us, 'cus you're not! You're just a pathetic little shit, aren't you?" the bully replied. He pulled back a fisted hand and hit Armin hard across the face.

The blonde tried not to go down, but the pain was so intense that he couldn't keep himself up and he felt himself falling into the dirt. He was rewarded with a sharp kick to his side and the air rushed out of his lungs at the blow. Armin was too weak to stand much of a beating. He didn't eat well enough as it was and his young body seemed to be a little slow in the maturing process. Armin braced himself for more, hoping he could survive the beating, when a troop of Garrison soldiers entered the alleyway just in time. They had probably come for a quick drink or smoke before going on duty, and they sighed when they realized they would instead have to break up a fight.

"Oi! You kids, what're you doing?" one of the soldiers yelled at them.

The bullies that had been beating up on Armin took off at a run and left the young blonde boy curled and coughing in the dirt. One of the Garrison soldiers approached him where he lay. "You alright, kid?" he questioned.

"I'll be fine," Armin managed to say through teeth clenched in pain. "I just need to go home."

"Well alright then. You know, you should really learn to defend yourself," the man said.

"Yeah, I know," Armin replied and picked himself up off the ground. "Thanks for running them off."

"Ah, well, we can't have a couple of kids fighting in our smoking area now can we? Off with you now."

Armin nodded and shuffled off back in the direction he had come. He couldn't work in this condition and needed some time to rest. He had actually been having more and more trouble with those same bullies and they didn't seem to care that he had friends. They just waited until he was alone and attacked. Armin wasn't sure why they had singled him out as their prey. Maybe it was just because he was so weak and small. Back home he had been picked on because of his interest in leaving the walls. The mids hadn't liked that and called him a heretic. But how could these kids here in Wall Rose know anything about that? He didn't even know their names, just their faces. He didn't want to be a bully like them, but maybe the soldier had been right, maybe he had better learn to defend himself.

Once he had made it back to the small hovel he and his grandfather and friends were staying in, he sat down on the floor with a bowl of water and some rags to try and clean himself up a little. He couldn't stop the tears from streaming down his face. They were angry tears; he was upset with himself for always needing to rely on others, for always being a burden.

A sudden sound made him look up and he saw that his grandfather had entered the room. "Armin, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Shouldn't you be working?" Armin asked, curious why his grandfather had come home.

"I came home early, I felt like someone may need my help, and it looks like I was right."

"You can't feel when someone needs help. That's impossible," Armin protested.

"I can always feel when you need help, Armin. I feel it deep in my heart," the old man said. He crouched down by Armin and took the bowl of water from him to start to help the young boy clean up his face.

"Did those bullies beat you up again?"

"Yes," Armin sighed. "A Garrison soldier had to help me. Why can't I be strong like Eren and Mikasa? Why do I always need help?"

His grandfather thought about it for a second and then said, "Everyone in this world has a different gift, Armin. Some people are strong and brave, some are kind and caring. Some people can lead and some people make the best followers and work well on a team. Our gifts make each of us special and help us find our places in the world. If everyone was the same nothing would change and it would be a very boring place to live in."

"So you're saying I can never be strong because it's not my gift?" Armin asked.

"No, I'm saying that you have a different kind of strength and when you find it and allow it to develop, you can be as strong as anyone. Right now you are feeling weak and useless because you are still young and you don't know who you are yet. Just give it some time, Armin. I can tell you'll be a great man someday, and I hope I'm around to see it," his grandfather said with a sincere smile.

Armin smiled back; the tears in his eyes were now ones of gratefulness and love for his grandfather who believed in him even if no one else would. He put his arms around the old man and hugged him close. "You _better_ still be around to see me, grandfather. I don't know what I'd do without you."

* * *

It was cloudy and a little colder than usual that day when Tori jumped down from her family's carriage to spend another day at the Library. She had a warm blanket wrapped around her shoulders and she shivered slightly. Winter must be on its way, and Orvud District felt the bite of the cold much more than most of the other districts because they were closer to the northern area of the wall. Since it was chilly here in Mitras, it must be much colder at home.

The girl started to make her way off to the Library doors with her father like she usually did every day. Her mother had been staying home with baby Samuel, so it was now just her and her dad, which made the already empty library seem even lonelier. Not many people had been coming in recently either due to the Titan attack or because they didn't feel like leaving their warm homes to venture out. It was still the duty of the Haize's to open the library every day, and her father was never one to set aside his responsibilities.

Tori snapped around suddenly in the chilly wind when she heard something that one usually doesn't hear in the early morning around the Mitras Library. It was a bark. She searched for the sound, but didn't have to look far, when her eyes quickly fell upon the tan colored dog happily wagging its tail at her feet.

"Waggy!" she exclaimed at seeing her pet staring at her with pure joy in his doggy eyes. "What are you doing here you bad, bad, dog?! You know you're not supposed to follow us to work!"

She immediately knelt next to the dog and held him close to her, feeling warmth spread through her hands from his shaggy fur. "What are we going to do now," she wondered aloud. "We can't let anyone see you. They wouldn't want a dog like you in the library."

There was the sound of a loud crash somewhere out in the distance, and the overly curious dog suddenly leapt from Tori's arms and dashed after the noise, barking his head off the whole time. A feeling of panic and dread washed over Tori and she followed frantically after her dog, calling his name and trying to get him to come back.

"Tori! Where are you going?" she barely heard her father call after her. She was too focused on finding Waggy before something happened. He was heading straight toward the busiest part of the city where all the merchants would be moving their wares and supplies around in heavy wagons pulled by strong horses.

She rounded a corner, and found herself in the street surrounded by people. Her eyes searched everywhere for some sign of her dog, but it was her ears that finally alerted her to his presence. There was suddenly barking and a commotion of shrieking horses as a heavy wagon burdened with food supplies came quickly through the streets and encountered a tan colored dog with a happy face.

Tori screamed and started running into the street after him, but it was too late. Right before her eyes the horses, moving forward at a fast speed, reared and spooked in fright at the sight of the dog. They started off at a run and Tori's dog was right in there path. Her blue eyes were wide with horror as the small tan dog was trampled before her, too carefree and distracted to move out of the way of the horses. People in the streets were reacting in fear as the man driving the wagon tried to get the horses under control. Several men tried grabbing onto the reins to slow down the frightened animals, and eventually they succeeded and everyone cheered, but Tori had blocked out the commotion of the rest of the world. She slowly approached the tan body lying on the side of the street with tears pouring from her eyes.

"Waggy?" she asked in a whisper when she was close enough to her dog. She bent down next to him and saw that his fur was bloodied and his legs were bent at the wrong angles. He was still breathing, and he looked at her with his chocolate eyes, full of happiness that she was there despite the pain he must have felt, and then he breathed no more and his eyes darkened and stared off to nowhere.

Tori softly dragged a trembling hand across the lifeless body of her dog and sat there shaking and crying, not sure what she should do. She had never before seen death in her life, and now right before her eyes, her best friend had been killed. She couldn't bring him back. He was gone forever, and the cold wind blew ice through her heart.

* * *

"Grandpa, you're not serious are you? You can't go! Who will look after us?" Armin said in earnest when his grandfather told them he would be joining the expedition to take back Wall Maria from the Titans.

"Surely they could make an exception for you, sir. You're the only adult we have. They can't just let a bunch of orphaned kids run around in the streets," Eren said.

Mikasa sat at the table and didn't say a word.

"Sorry, I tried to find a way to stay, but it's a governmental decree that everyone able to fight must enlist and do their part for humanity. There's no way we'll be able to make it another year if we can't find a way to take back our lands. There's just not enough food and space to go around. The military thinks that if enough of us go, we will be able to overwhelm the Titans," Armin's grandfather told them.

"That's bullshit and you know it!" Eren yelled. "There're just trying to find a way to get rid of us like they always have! We were fine when we were all over in Wall Maria growing their food and making their clothes, but now that we need help they just want to kick us out!"

"Eren, please, don't use that tone. I don't like this anymore than you do, but sometimes we have to do things we don't want to, or are afraid to do, so that others can survive. We'll all die if nothing is ventured," Grandpa replied.

Armin sat quietly, trying to keep the tears from starting up again. He knew both Eren and his grandfather were right. It was wrong that the government should send innocent people out on a hopeless mission, but if they did nothing, everyone would suffer. But why did it have to be them? They were the victims in this situation. They had lost everything and they had done their best to cooperate in order to show some sort of gratitude for their safety. Shouldn't it be a joint operation of people from all three walls and the capitol, banded together with a good strategy, to take back Wall Maria? They might have a chance in that case, but what they were planning now was suicide. Sending some soldiers and a mass of untrained refuges into Titan territory was sure to fail. Did he even dare hope? Would his grandfather make it back alive?

Over the next few days Armin's grandfather attended a lame excuse for training in order to somewhat prepare the drafted and reluctant recruits. He came home every night, sore and tired, but he always had time for Armin and the two other children he had somewhat adopted. He gave them smiles and tried to teach them some practical skills for living in case he didn't come back. He never spoke of the possibility that he wouldn't, but Armin knew he was worried for them, that's why he was showing them how to cook, and clean animals such as fish, and showing them how to light fires from nothing but a pile of wood. If he didn't come back, maybe they'd have a chance.

The day of the campaign to take back the wall dawned much too soon. The grim soldiers assigned to lead the civilian troops to battle silently saddled their horses and arranged their 3D maneuvering gear while the poorly trained troops said goodbye to the people they would be leaving behind. Armin stood at a distance from them all, too afraid of his emotions getting away with him, as he watched his grandfather talk in a low voice to Eren and clamp the fiery boy on the shoulder with affection. His grandfather then turned to Mikasa and gave her a simple hug, brushing his old hand over her hair.

He then looked to Armin standing in the distance and slowly approached his grandson. The two of them stood in front of each other for a long time, and Armin vowed he wouldn't cry this time. He would be strong for his grandfather, just this once, so that he'd know the boy would be alright.

"Armin," his grandfather said, breaking the silence. "I'm coming back, you know."

Armin nodded, not speaking to try and keep his face strong and the pain from breaking through.

"But I want you to know anyways, that I'm proud of you, and that you are stronger than you think, you just have to believe in yourself. You're smart as hell, and loyal and selfless. And above all that you have something that many people in this world have lost, and that's kindness. You'll make it alright; you have all the right stuff and you have two very good friends who won't ever let you down, just remember that."

Armin swallowed hard and his eyes were wet with sadness despite his efforts to keep it in. "I'll never be as good a man as you, Grandpa. I'll miss you so much," he choked.

Armin's grandfather bent down and hugged his grandson long and close, letting the boy's tears soak his shirt. "I love you, Armin. You have a good heart," he said and then stood up and placed his old felt hat on top of the boy's blonde head.

"I'll be coming back for that," was the last thing he said before walking away to join the already leaving troops. His footsteps were heavy and his heart ached at leaving the person he loved most in the world, and would probably never see again.

Armin stood alone and held the old hat to his heart. " _Haven't I lost enough yet?"_ he said silently to the world.

* * *

She felt the sharp smack of the stick sting across her hand as her instructor glared angrily at the picture she had been drawing and gave her a whack. "Tori, what is that?" the old women asked.

"A-a-dolphin," the young girl stuttered.

"And what is a dolphin, exactly? I told you to draw a picture of something real, not imaginary."

"It is real," she said before she could stop herself. "They live in the sea."

"The sea? Just where is the sea, young lady?" her instructor asked.

"Beyond the walls," Tori said in almost a whisper with her head ducked down.

Her instructor had heard her and whacked her hand again with the stick. "There is _nothing_ beyond the walls you idiot child," the sour woman said in a low voice full of rage.

"What did I just get finished telling the class yesterday, Tori? The only things beyond the walls are the Titans and we _must not_ intrude on their lands. You saw what happened to Shiganshina, didn't you? It will happen again if we don't stick to our own and stay safe behind the walls. There will be no more of this nonsense about the outside world in my classroom and if I hear it again you will be expelled!"

"Yes, ma'm," Tori said meekly and defeated.

"Rest assured, I will be speaking to your parents about this," the instructor added.

After class she tried to make her way quickly to the library before her classmates could catch her and taunt her again about getting in trouble. She was a little too slow, because soon enough she ran into a group of various children.

"There's the little dreamer!" a girl said rudely and stepped into Tori's path.

"Please, just let me by. My father is expecting me," Tori begged.

"No way, we're sick of you and your crazy ideas about what's beyond the walls, and you're not going anywhere until you promise to never talk or even _think_ about those things again!" a boy yelled at her.

Tori began to back away but soon her back pressed up against a wall and she had nowhere to go with her classmates closing in on her. "Please…" she begged again.

"Come on you booky weirdo, just admit it's not real and be more like us," the lead girl said. "It's annoying enough that you like books so much, you can't be a heretic too."

The group of kids pressed closer, intimidating her. She knew deep down they wouldn't really touch her, they were just trying to scare her a little. She knew that if she didn't back down they would eventually go away, but even though she hated admitting it, there scare tactic was slowly working.

Ever since school had started up again, Tori had been finding it harder and harder to remain true to herself and fight back against the sheltered society of Wall Sina. She didn't have any friends whatsoever, and those that may have been willing to put up with her odd quirks quickly looked the other way when she started talking about exploring the outside world and looking for adventure. She was tired of being alone and friendless with nothing but the books in the library to comfort her. Her self esteem and confidence had really taken a hit the day her dog had died.

Now her teacher was really cracking down on her strange ideas and her parents were getting involved, trying to push their daughter away from the wrong kind of thinking. Her classmates were becoming much more up front about how much they despised her, and this was one of many times they had cornered her and tried to force her to conform. She had finally reached her breaking point and she couldn't stand the hate any longer.

"Alright!" she nearly screamed out in anguish. "I won't talk about it, I won't think about it, I won't even believe it anymore!"

"Good, that wasn't so hard now was it?" the girl asked with a smile immediately gracing her face. "Hey, why don't you hang out with us in the park tomorrow? We are all getting together to do some studying, and even though you are a little odd, you seem to know a lot of stuff."

"Okay…" Tori said with a downcast expression.

"See you tomorrow," the kids waved and happily made their ways home, satisfied that their mission had been accomplished.

Tori sank to the stone ground in misery, horrified that she had caved in and said what they wanted to hear. She had gone against everything she believed in because she was too weak and miserable to fight back anymore. Why had she believed those things in the first place though? It wasn't like she had actually seen any proof that there was something better out there, had she? All there was were Titans and pain and loneliness.

Her memories suddenly flashed back to the pages of a large thick book full of wonders she had never seen, and a warm smile from a boy who had melted her heart. She suddenly realized that even if she denied it out loud to try and fit in and avoid the disapproving glares of the people around her, she didn't have to ever really forget it, or change the way she felt deep down. No one had to know she secretly remembered all that Armin had shown her, and one day she could leave this place and go on her own adventures with no one to stop her…right?

The depressed and defeated girl rose to her feet and slowly made her way to the library where her father was waiting, confused thoughts swirling around in her head.

* * *

Armin sat with his grandfather's hat in his hands against the wall of a building in a quiet secluded place far away from everyone. He wanted to be alone in his misery; he didn't want anyone to see him cry.

He had just gotten word that the campaign to take back Wall Maria had failed, and that there were no survivors. No one was coming home, his grandfather was dead.

His eyes were dull, he was dirty, and he was a complete mess with tears pouring from his face and whimpers of agony escaping his body, but he didn't care anymore. He couldn't be strong like his grandfather had wanted him to be. He was weak and useless again, and this time his grandfather wasn't around to help him stand back up. Armin had known the day the old man left that he would never see him again despite the words they had said and assurances they had given each other, but now that it was a reality, it felt much worse than it had back then.

He wasn't alone in his misery for very long, however, because pretty soon is two best friends figured out where he was and came to join him in his sadness. Eren stood next to him and Mikasa watched nearby.

"I'm really sorry about your grandfather, Armin," Eren said with a small sniff. "He didn't deserve a death like that, none of them did. I really respected him."

Armin didn't say anything, and the tears kept on coming.

"It's all the Titans' fault. If we could just subdue them, our world could be ours again," the green-eyed boy continued. He slid down the wall and sat next to Armin. "Armin, I'm going to apply for the cadets next year. I'm going to gain the strength to fight the Titans!"

Armin looked at his best friend in wonder. Joining the cadets? Surely he was still too young. But Armin knew Eren wanted to do something to take back their lives from the ones who had destroyed it, and joining the cadets seemed like the best way to start. Armin glanced down at the hat, his thoughts going wild again, and suddenly he knew how he could keep his promise to his grandfather to be strong.

"Me too," the blonde said quietly.

Eren looked at him in shock. "Armin?!" the boy exclaimed, not believing what he had thought he heard.

"Me too!" Armin said louder and with confidence.

"I will, too," Mikasa added.

Eren protested her plans at first, but then all three of them finally decided that they would join together, and that nothing would stop them. Armin's heart was full of determination and confidence in his decision. He had to be stronger now. Eren, Mikasa, and his grandfather had shown him that. He was sure the cadets would help get him there.

* * *

Tori cringed every time she heard the young boy in the room next to hers cough and cry. Her parents would rush in every time and comfort him immediately trying to get him to sleep and giving him the medicine they had gotten from the most expensive doctor they could find. The doctor had told them not to hope too much. Samuel probably wouldn't make it for very long. The sickness in his lungs almost always took those it infected, especially if they were so young.

The blonde girl couldn't sleep through any of it. She was worried sick that she would wake up and find that her little brother had died overnight and that there was nothing she could do. She didn't want to lose someone else in her life. She didn't want to be alone again. Ever since Samuel had been starting to walk around the house and begin to pay attention to more things and learn, she had hardly ever left his side. She was amazed at the way he saw and interacted with things and she was eager to be his teacher. He had filled the hole in her life that her dog's death had left and that the people of Wall Sina had bore there. Was she going to lose that now too?

Eventually she fell asleep, and woke the next day to find her brother still alive, but uncharacteristically quiet in his fitful slumber. She kissed his small forehead and then made her way downstairs to get ready for the new day.

Tori went through all the motions at school, talking to her friends and staying quiet and respectful of the teacher. She didn't say much these days and her eyes had lost the glow they used to hold when she would explore her small world and collect items she came across. In fact she didn't even do that anymore. She spent her days in the company of the false friends she had made and by herself in one secluded place or another, reading.

Society had won, and she had lost. She didn't even think about joining the Scout Regiment anymore, they were a bunch of idealistic fools who thought the world could get better somehow, when it was obvious that all it did was tear you down. She certainly didn't think about the outside world at all, and she had all but forgotten about Armin Arlert. It had been a brutal two years of trying to fit in and trying to find her place, and the only way she had been able to achieve that was by giving up on all her old dreams and accepting things the way they were. Just stick to the status quo and you'd be alright. It's what her parents had always said; it's what they had told the Arlert's when they had come and visited with their troublesome book.

"So, are you going to join the military, Tori? Like you always said you would?" one of her friends asked her as they left the school building for the day. "We'll be old enough to join up soon enough, and everyone says it would be a great honor to get selected for the Military Police."

"I've thought about it, but do you really think I'd be good enough to get in with the Military Police? You've got to be like in the top ten to enter," Tori replied.

"Yeah, but your parents know people. They could help get you in even if you don't make the cut. It's not like the Military Police do much anyways, and you'd be safe and stationed right here near your family. That's what I'd go for if I were you," her friend said smugly.

She knew what the girl had meant by that. Most of the kids in Tori's class had their futures already planned out for them. They would take over the family business or something to that nature. If they didn't do that they'd be set up somewhere in the city, they were all rich enough to get away with it. But Tori came from a family lower on the totem pole than they did and the only reason she had been able to go to their school was because her parents worked in Mitras. She didn't have any higher prospects, the library didn't need any more employees, and the only thing she could do with her future was either get married or join the military.

Getting married was out of the question. She despised all the boys that she knew from Wall Sina. They were arrogant and rude. That meant she should join the military. She didn't want to be a burden on her family and this way she could learn to take care of herself and at least have a somewhat respectable place in society. If she got into the Military Police she wouldn't have to leave her brother.

"Maybe I will," she said to her friend, but she couldn't help feeling way, way deep down a strange wave of sadness course through her heart where her spirit of adventure laid buried deep under layers of rules, regulations, and obligations. She wasn't the same person she used to be, she didn't smile like she used to and she didn't wonder anymore. Would that part of her ever break free from where she had buried it?

When Tori arrived at the library her father excitedly greeted her, telling her that he just received news from her mother and the doctor that Samuel would live! He had made it through last night and the fever was broken. A wave of relief washed over Tori and she genuinely smiled for the first time in a long time. She wouldn't be losing another part of herself anytime soon; she'd make sure of it. She'd join the Military Police and get stationed near her family so that she could always be with her little brother and make sure nothing ever happened to him again.

* * *

 **Ahhhh! This chapter made me cry while writing it. Sorry it was so sad, but it had to be done. One of the reasons why I like Attack on Titan so much is because it's not just sunshine and butterflies, it's tough and cold and a very tragic story.**

 **I decided to write the past two chapters, switching between Armin and Tori, because I wanted to show how different their worlds are. Tori is devastated over the loss of her pet and had never seen death before. Armin has lost his home and his whole family. Tori has her family, but she had been crushed and beaten down by so much by them all that she has been forced to change. Who's life is the more tragic? Will we ever know?**

 **Anyways, next chapter Armin will finally see Tori again after all these years apart, but, of course, neither of them are the same as they used to be. Thanks so much for reading and don't forget to leave me some lovely reviews!**


	6. Initiation Ceremony

Chapter 6: Initiation Ceremony

Under the bright midday sun, the cadets of the 104th regiment each sweated from the heat of the sweltering sun and the heat of the glare from their commanding officer, Keith Shadis.

"I want this entire trench dug exactly five feet deep by the time I'm done introducing myself to this year's second batch of new recruits, do I make myself clear?!" Shadis shouted.

"Yes, sir," the 104th regiment said in unison, placing their fists over their hearts in salute.

"Good, now get digging. It's time to put some muscle on you weak-ass pansies!"

As soon as the commander turned away and had marched himself a good distance from the group of cadets, the tense atmosphere seemed to relax a little and the young trainees each picked up a shovel and started to dig in the hard dirt in between the markers for the new trench. Armin did his best to keep up with the shoveling of some of the larger boys in the group, but his performance left much to be desired. He had only been in the 104th regiment for half a year now, and he knew it was going to take a lot longer for him to build up enough muscle and strength to keep up with most of the cadets here. Even some of the girls outclassed him, and it was rather embarrassing.

"Hey, Armin, check it out," he heard Eren say to him. The blonde stopped his sorry excuse for shoveling and turned his head in Eren's direction to see that the green-eyed youth was watching the new recruits line up on the ceremony grounds in the distance. From their vantage spot, up where they were digging on a hill near the grounds, the members of the 104th regiment could see what was taking place with the new recruits below. Armin watched as Shadis placed himself in front of the new group of soldiers and repeated similar words to them as he had when Armin was a new recruit. The stern man's voice was so loud it carried all the way up the hill, and many of Armin's fellow cadets stopped their shoveling as well to watch.

"The 105th Cadet Corps Class entrance ceremony will now begin! You have the misfortune of having me, Keith Shadis, as your commandant!" Shadis yelled.

The man went on to call them useless pieces of Titan chow, much like he had for Armin's regiment, and since it was something he had heard before, and heard pretty much every day, Armin focused his attention on trying to make out what the new recruits looked like from far away. It was actually hard to tell faces from a distance. He could see hair color and could tell who was male and who was female, but that was about all.

"Armin!" he heard someone hiss at him and he turned to see Jean's angry face. "Don't just stand there, keep digging. I am _not_ going on another five mile run because of you!"

Armin hastily picked up his shovel and started to move more earth around, but he kept his ears trained on the shouting on the ceremony grounds and turned so that he faced the grounds and could look up to watch if anything interesting happened. He was just curious, and a little bored of shoveling dirt.

Soon enough, Shadis started to make his way amongst the new trainees and give a few of them a hard time. Armin heard him shout at the first cadet he decided to intimidate. "Who the hell are you?!"

"Harrison Harvey from Trost District, sir!" the cadet answered back.

"Harrison Harvey? Why does that name sound familiar?" Jean muttered while shoveling. Armin now realized he wasn't the only one mindlessly shoveling dirt while listening in on the shouting going on below. In fact, most of the 104th regiment were doing exactly that.

"Why are you here, Cadet!" Shadis continued interrogating.

"To serve humanity and rid the world of Titans, sir!" Harrison Harvey shouted.

"Is that so? Well do you know what I think? I think you're full of shit, Harvey! I think that as soon as you see a Titan you're gonna run back home to mommy! Am I right, Cadet?!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Harvey yelled.

"What are you, Harvey?!" Shadis roared.

"A piece of shit, sir!"

"That's more like it, maybe you'll be useful after all," the drill instructor said and then moved on to his next victim.

"I'm glad we're done with all that," Connie shivered over his shovel.

"Are you kidding, Connie? He yells at us like that every day," Sasha replied.

"Yeah but I didn't know what to expect back when we were new, now I'm just used to it I guess. It really bothered me back then though," the short haired boy said.

"Weren't you the one he lifted off the ground by the head because you couldn't get the salute right?" Reiner chuckled.

"Shut up, man!" Connie fired back.

"All of you shut up! I can't hear what they're saying," Ymir shushed them.

"Why do you care?" Connie asked.

"I don't know, its kinda funny listening to them squeal like little piggies in front of Shadis," the tall girl answered with a shrug.

Armin agreed with wanting to listen to what was going on down there on the grounds, and he supposed it was a _little_ funny, but he mostly felt bad for the new cadets. They had no idea what lay ahead of them. Shadis had started yelling at someone else now, and something about their conversation interested him greatly, so he drowned out the rest of his squad and tried to pay more attention.

"And who the hell are you?!" the commander yelled again.

"My name is Victoria Haize from Orvud District, sir!" the high pitched yell of a girl sounded out over the grounds.

Armin's head snapped up from his digging and he stared in shock at the back of the girl who had just answered Shadis. Victoria Haize? It couldn't be…could it? She had the same pale skin and the same honey colored hair, but he was too far away to see her face, to see if it was truly who he thought it was. His hands shook with anticipation on the handle of his shovel as he waited to see if she would reveal anymore clues about herself to Shadis.

"Orvud District huh? What, got too tired of hanging out with all those fat-ass rich slobs up there, or did you do something so shameful that they sent you here to bother me? What was it, princess? Did you fold a napkin wrong or something?" Shadis yelled.

"No-no,sir," Haize stammered. "I am here to do my duty to my King and serve him in the best way I can."

"Let me tell you something, princess. The military is no place for rich-ass spoiled brats like you. You'll get no special treatment here and I'll treat you just like I treat everyone else. If you don't drop out on your own, I'll make it my personal goal to see that your life is so miserable here you'll wish you had!"

"Sir!" she yelled with a hint of anger hidden in her trembling voice.

Shadis left her alone and moved to the next recruit, but Armin couldn't stop staring at the back of her head. She was so familiar! Everything about her reminded him of a girl he hadn't thought about in years. Her voice, her hair, her skin, the manner in which she had spoken…could it be Tori? Had he finally met her again at last?

Armin shook his head and went back to digging before he got into too much trouble. A couple of his friends had begun murmuring amongst themselves about the girl in the 105th from Orvud District.

"Damn, that girl came from Wall Sina? Shadis has to be right about her, she must have done something wrong to be here," someone had said.

"Yeah, don't those kids there basically have their whole lives planned out for them and don't ever even have to consider joining the military? I mean, their families probably have enough money to bail them out of a draft right?" someone else replied.

"It sure will be sweet to watch Shadis torment her," Ymir spoke up.

Armin kept his face down, not wanting to betray how mad he was at them all for judging her so fast. He shouldn't be feeling this way, he didn't even know for sure that it was his old friend, but if it was, then he knew she wasn't like that. She may have lived in Wall Sina, but he remembered her being sweet and kind, and full of adventure.

"Armin, is something wrong?" he heard Mikasa ask him quietly.

"No, it's nothing…it's just, well, I think I knew her once."

* * *

Tori Haize marched to the recruit quarters when the interrogation of the troops was over and the 105th had been dismissed. Shadis had suddenly become preoccupied with the fact that the 104th regiment, the cadets that had started half a year before she had, were nowhere close to finishing a trench he had assigned them to dig. As Tori approached what was to be her home for the next three years, she stopped and stared at it, realizing this whole thing was going to be much harder than she had thought. She had assumed she could tough it out and breeze through training, then her father would pay a few visits, and before she knew it she would be sitting pretty in the Military Police and near her little brother.

According the Keith Shadis, that wasn't the way this whole thing was going to go.

"Hey, are you going to just stand there all day or are you going to move out of the way? You're blocking the road," someone complained behind her.

Tori turned to see a small raven haired girl tapping her foot impatiently. Next to the girl was yet another girl with lighter brown hair and much kinder eyes than the first. The two already looked like they were friends, so they were probably from the same district or village as well.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something," Tori replied.

"Well the world doesn't revolve around you here, _Wall Sina_ ," the raven haired girl snapped and dragged her apologizing friend away towards one of the bunk houses.

Crap, did everyone know she was from Wall Sina? Shadis had probably been loud enough to let the whole world know. Great, now she was going to have to go through all that work to try to fit in again in a place that no one wanted her, just like she had back home. Would she ever find somewhere where she could truly be happy? Tori sighed and dejectedly made her way towards the bunk house she had been assigned, suddenly not so sure about her future anymore.

It so happened, much to Tori's disappointment and dread, that the bunk house she had been assigned to was the exact same that the rude raven haired girl she had just encountered had been assigned to.

As soon as Tori had entered the house, the girl immediately called her out. "Oh, happy day everybody! Look who decided to grace us with her royal presence, the princess of Orvud!"

Tori couldn't help but scowl as the assortment of females in the room snickered at the dark haired girl's words. She put on her best "ignoring you" face and made her way to an empty bunk, plopping down on it. How could they say such things and treat her in such a way? They didn't know anything about her. She wasn't royalty or particularly privileged or anything. Yes, her family probably had more money than any of the other cadets, but she wasn't much different from the rest of them other than that…was she?

The cadets weren't allowed to bring any personal possessions with them, so all she really had that was hers were the clothes on her back. The military had given the uniform to her and stowed her old clothes away somewhere, saying she wouldn't need them until she graduated and that all of her other basic needs would be taken care of. She was rather disappointed she couldn't bring something to remind her of her family with her. She needed something to help get her through this nightmare that training was now slowly turning out to be.

"Hi!" a loud voice to her right exclaimed in her ear and she jumped slightly and turned her head to stare into the friendly face of a girl with light auburn hair and hazel eyes. "Looks like you and I are bunkmates. See, my bunk is closest to yours."

"You must have been the brave one to want to be so close to someone like me from Wall Sina," Tori said.

"Not really, there weren't any other bunks left and I came in a little late," the girl replied, and then she gasped, "Oh, so you're the one from Wall Sina? Hey, what's it like there?"

"Well, the houses are bigger and the people just have more things…" Tori trailed off, realizing she didn't really know what it was like anywhere else and couldn't really make any comparisons.

"I knew it!" her bunk mate said. "I've never been there before, but that's how I imagined it would be. Oh, sorry, how rude of me, my name's Sheila Benson."

Tori was slightly surprised by the outstretched hand before her and hesitantly took it in a friendly handshake. "I'm Victoria Haize, but you can just call me Tori."

"Nice to meet you, Tori. You know, you don't seem all that bad."

"So you mean, you don't hate me because of where I come from?" Tori asked in wonder.

"No way. My parents always taught me to judge someone by what you see them do, not by what you hear about them from other people."

"Kind of like a book."

"Huh?" Sheila asked, confused.

"You know, like how you shouldn't judge a book by the cover or the title," Tori explained.

"Yeah, kind of like that! But I don't know that much about books."

Tori finally smiled at Sheila, hoping against hope that maybe she had found someone she could become friends with after all and that maybe that friendship would make facing everyone else a lot more bearable. "I know a lot about books, my parents are librarians. I could answer any questions you have them."

"Thanks, Tori, I'll think about it. Hey, I heard you during the ceremony when Shadis screamed at you, and I was wondering, what branch of the military do you want to join when you graduate?"

"Oh, um the Military Police," Tori said.

"Really? How come?"

"Well, I want to be near my family I guess."

"Oh yeah, well you know I heard you have to be really good to get into the Military Police. Do you think you'll be good at handling the ODM gear?" Sheila asked in curiosity.

"I don't know, I've never used it before."

"Well just hope you are because that's one of the only ways you can make it into the Military Police. I'm hoping to join the Scout Regiment, myself," the girl replied with confidence.

Tori's interest was captured at those words and she couldn't help but ask, "Why would you want to do that? It's incredibly dangerous isn't it?"

"That's true, but I don't want to be a coward and hide behind the walls, no offense. If I'm going to join the military I want to go all out and join the most advanced and daring branch out there. So what if I die? I'll have given my all for humanity and that's what really counts."

"You know, back when I was younger, I wanted to join the Scouts too," Tori said quietly.

"What changed your mind?" Sheila asked.

"I don't really know, I guess real life got in the way of my dreams and I realized that I needed to think more practically about the situation. Not all of us can go down in a blaze of glory. Some of us have to stay behind with the ones we love. And…well…it's not right to go outside the walls and mess with the Titans. Bad things happen. We need to protect our own."

Suddenly Tori didn't want to talk about it anymore. Thinking back to when she had been a younger girl and wanted nothing but to explore and join the Scouts was also bringing up other painful memories about the ones she had lost. He would be so ashamed of her now if he knew what she had become, and knew that she had given up on her dreams and decided to play it safe rather than take a chance. In a way Tori admired Sheila for doing what she hadn't been able to do, but Sheila didn't know what it had been like trying to defend yourself against the people you grew up with. No, Tori wouldn't change her mind that easily, she was going to make her way into the Military police and she was going to be by her brother's side.

"Well, everyone's entitled to their own opinions," Sheila said. "We'll just have to keep working on you."

"Right, have fun with that," Tori chuckled.

* * *

 **Oooh, I threw in a little twist there didn't I? Armin and Tori are not in the same regiment and Tori doesn't want to join the Scouts?! I decided to make it so that the Training Corps received two new regiments every year for the purposes of my story. I have no idea if that's what really happens. Oh, and I made Shadis the drill instructor for both the 104** **th** **and the 105** **th** **because I didn't want to come up with a new character, and Shadis is the best anyways. Surely he can handle another regiment. Alright, let's see what happens next! It may take me just a little longer to post the next chapter because I really wan't it to feel right. Thanks for reading, comments/questions always welcomed!**

 **MaybeAYoutuber** **and** **thatteenagedragon** **: Thanks for being this story's first supporters! You guys rock and are forever awesome! Loved your reviews :)**


	7. Things Are Different Now

Chapter 7: Things Are Different Now

Class drug on that morning, and Armin, who was usually very interested in their lectures, wanted nothing more than for it to be over. He hadn't been able to get Tori out of his mind ever since yesterday when the new recruits were introduced. The blonde boy sighed and looked out the window to see the sun rising higher in the sky. Almost, just a little longer, and then he'd be free to go find out if it was really her. The lecture today was more information about how the government and military worked together as a well oiled machine, but he had read about all that before in the book he had given to Tori. Did she still have it? He had lost hers during the fall of Shiganshina a long time ago.

"Armin, what's up with you today?" Eren asked in a hushed whisper. The boy was sitting to his right and Mikasa was on the other side of him.

"What do you mean?" Armin asked.

"Come on, you're obviously not paying any attention to the lecture. You're just staring off into space or something. You've got to pay attention, who else's notes am I gonna study off of?" Eren complained.

"Sorry, Eren, I just have something on my mind that I can't stop thinking about."

"Well, what is it?"

"It's a girl," Mikasa said calmly.

"Mikasa!" Armin gasped.

"A girl? Really? Which girl?" Eren said, way more interested than Armin had hoped he would be.

"Yeager, Arlert, if the two of you have something more important to discus than listening to my lecture, then I'm sure I can arrange for you to go out and work in the fields so you can finish your conversation," their instructor scolded them after noticing the two students speaking to each other in whispers.

"Sorry, sir. It was nothing, we'll be quiet," Armin hastily apologized, blushing bright red as the entire class turned to stare at them.

"We were just discussing the lecture, sir," Eren added.

"Hmmm," the teacher said. "No more disruptions, or else."

Armin was immediately silent and didn't say another word during the rest of the lecture. He even tried to focus more on what the instructor was saying, but it was extremely difficult since his head was swimming with Tori and the fact that he was going to have to explain himself to Eren, now that Mikasa had spilled the beans.

Once class was over, the members of the 104th started to make their way back to their quarters. Commander Shadis had given them a day off after class because he was going to be busy with the new recruits today, so Armin had decided to take some things to study down to his favorite place at the little river on the training grounds, and possibly come up with a way to bump into Victoria Haize. But Eren had other plans for his friend.

"Armin! Where are you off too? Don't think you can try and avoid me. I want to hear all about this girl Mikasa mentioned," Eren said as he caught up to his friend.

"Oh, uh, it was nothing, Eren, really," Armin said nervously. He had hoped that Eren had forgotten about the whole thing, but he guessed he had been wrong.

"It's never nothing if Mikasa is in on it, so why don't you tell me? You think I can't keep a secret or something?"

"Eren, you don't have to worry about it."

"Oh, come on Armin! You don't have to lie to me, and besides you're not very good at it," Eren prodded.

"Alright, alright," Armin gave in and motioned for his friend to follow him to a more secluded area away from curious ears. They went back into the now deserted classroom they had just been in, and Armin turned to face Eren, but didn't really know where to begin.

"So?" Eren said. "Who's this girl?"

"It's kind of a long story," Armin answered, rubbing a hand behind his neck.

"It's not like I don't have all day. Anything that involves you and a girl has got to be interesting," Eren replied and pulled up a chair to sit in.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Armin said, slightly insulted.

"You're not exactly a flirt, Armin. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you even speak to a girl besides Mikasa," Eren replied smugly.

Armin scowled at that, so what if he was a little shy and nervous around girls? There was nothing wrong with that. The truth was he never thought any of them had really had any romantic type feelings towards him anyways. They all seemed to like Eren, and big guys like Reiner and Bertolt, more than smaller nerdy type guys like him.

"Armin," Eren said, trying to get his friend to talk.

"Alright, well, I met this girl back when I was a little kid, back when my parents were still alive. It was when my parents took me on a trip to Wall Sina to meet their old friends, John and Stella Haize. She was their daughter and we became friends while I was there. She liked a lot of the same things I did and we got along really well."

"What happened to her?"

"Our parents got in a fight about the outside world and I never saw her again," Armin said, sadly remembering all the way back to that day.

"I guess that makes some sense though, those people in the interior are real superstitious. So why are you suddenly distracted by this girl now? You've been separated for years and you've never told me about her before."

"Well, yesterday, at the initiation ceremony, that girl from Wall Sina Shadis was yelling at, I think…I think that might be her," Armin said.

Eren's eyes widened in surprise and he leaned forward in his chair. "Yeah?" he said.

"Yeah," Armin replied. "I mean, she had the same name, I think. I knew her as "Tori" but that could be short for Victoria. And she had the same color hair as Tori did. I've been thinking about her all day, I just can't get her out of my head. I've got to know if it's really her."

"Why? Did you have a crush on her or something?"

Armin blushed, "We were just friends, Eren. But I made her a promise…I…I just have to know okay?"

"Is she hot?"

"Eren!" Armin said in exasperation. "We were just little kids, how am I supposed to know if she's hot? I haven't seen her in years!"

"She probably is. You know, those classy hot, Wall Sina girl types, they're always nice to look at," Eren winked.

"You've never even been to Wall Sina before."

"Yeah, but I saw some of the when we lived on our own in Wall Rose," Eren defended himself.

"Well, I don't care what she looks like, I just want to talk to her again," Armin said.

"The 105th regiment is taking the aptitude test today. We could go watch," Mikasa's voice suddenly said out of nowhere.

"Shit, Mikasa! When did you get here?" Eren yelled after he had sprung out of his chair and leapt halfway across the room at the sound of her voice coming from the shadows.

"I've been here the entire time," she replied. Eren mumbled something to himself angrily and Armin couldn't help but laugh at his friends. She had startled him too, but not as much as Eren.

"Anyways," Eren said with a glare at Armin's amused face. "Mikasa's right. We could go watch the aptitude testing and then maybe find your girl after they're done."

"Right now?" Armin said, trying to keep the butterflies from wrecking havoc in his stomach at the thought of seeing Tori again so soon. He had thought he would at least wait a few days before thinking of a way to accidentally bump into her.

"Yes, right now," Eren said enthusiastically. "I've got to meet this girl you're so infatuated with. She must be something, to draw you out of your shell."

"Let's go," Mikasa said and started to lead the two boys out of the door.

Armin followed meekly behind. He really didn't feel ready for this, but he needed to stop worrying. Maybe it wasn't even her, and if it was her, she would surely be the same friendly Tori he once knew. They could just pick right up where they left off and be friends again. Just simple friends…no pressure.

* * *

The 105th regiment stood in lines in front of each large poled contraption that would test their aptitude for the OMD gear. It didn't look that difficult, but Tori could see the panic and stress on the faces of some of the recruits as they were strapped into the harness and lifted off the ground. No one had really faltered that badly yet, and Shadis had said that if they failed today they would get one more chance to figure it out and pass before they were kicked out.

Sheila stood in front of Tori and seemed to be rather excited about the challenge ahead. "It's going to be just like how the 3D maneuvering gear is going to feel. I can't wait to try it out!" she said.

"What if you fail, though?" Tori asked.

"Don't be such a pessimist, Tori. We're all going to make it. I can just tell."

Tori watched a girl who was currently being lifted up in the harness. It was the same raven haired girl who had insulted her the other day. Tori had found out that her name was Rose, and at that moment, Rose was swinging with ease in the harness, almost looking bored. The brown haired girl with the kind face, Erika, was a little more uneasy in the harness right next to her, but she seemed to be doing just fine. It looked like it was simply a matter of balance; it really couldn't be that hard.

Tori remained silent until it was her turn. She started to feel her stomach twist in knots the closer she got the contraptions. Pretty soon Sheila was strapped in and doing her best to stay upright, and then it was Tori's turn.

"You've got this," Sheila said as Tori approached the harness. "It's not that difficult."

Tori nodded and let the man assisting with the training hook her belt up to the harness and wait for her to give him the okay to lift her up off of the ground. She took a deep breath and nodded to him, and then he cranked her up into the air.

She faltered slightly at first, trying to get the feel for the new position she had suddenly found her body in, but then she closed her eyes, calmed her nerves, and just _felt_ the way she should move and adjust herself in order to stay upright. It was a balancing act, and it wasn't something you could be taught, it was something you had to inherently know and let your body react too. Tori saw the value in making sure each cadet could keep their balance like this. If you couldn't control your body, then you would be useless using the ODM gear.

"Cadet Haize, you passed. You may get down now," someone told her and then she felt her feet touch firm ground again. She opened her eyes and unbuckled the harness, then walked stiffly to go stand with the other cadets who had finished. She had to admit, she would definitely have to get used to the feeling of floating freely in the air. It was a little unnerving, but she was proud to have passed the first test of training.

* * *

Armin watched the cadets from a distance with Eren and Mikasa as each of them were strapped into the harnesses and lifted off of the ground. They all seemed to be doing pretty well, but he wasn't too interested in who passed and who failed, he was busy searching for the familiar honey colored hair he had seen yesterday.

"Do you see her yet?" Eren asked.

"Not yet."

"What does she look like?"

"Eren, we're a little far away to actually tell. We should wait until they are done and then go down to talk with them," Mikasa suggested.

"I think that's her right there," Armin suddenly said. "In the second harness from the left."

"Oh, she does look pretty," Eren replied.

"You can't even really tell," Mikasa said in a flat tone.

"Sure I can."

Armin was just relieved when she didn't fall and kept her balance. Soon enough they lowered her back down and she went to stand with the rest of the cadets who had passed.

"They all look so young and inexperienced," Eren observed.

"We're not much older or more experienced than they are, you know," Armin said. "We've only been training half a year longer than they have."

"I feel like it's been a lot longer than that," Eren replied.

The three friends watched the aptitude test until it was over and the 105th had been dismissed. The new recruits started to make their way off the field below, and Eren motioned to Armin that they should go down and introduce themselves. The blonde's gut clenched again at the thought.

"Maybe we should wait. They have been through a lot of stress with that test and maybe she won't want to see me right away," Armin suggested.

"Come on, Armin. You're not nervous now are you?" Eren taunted.

"Well, maybe I am just a little. I haven't seen her in so long…and there's still the possibility it isn't even the same girl. We should wait until we have more information."

"I think we should go now, how about you, Mikasa?" Eren asked.

"We should go," she said.

"That settles it! Let's go! Don't worry, Armin, we'll be with you the whole time to back you up!"

"Why doesn't that make me feel any better," Armin mumbled to himself as he followed his more enthusiastic friends.

They were down among the 105th regiment soon enough and were weaving through the cadets, giving them friendly nods and smiles as they searched the crowd for Armin's girl. Armin was the one who saw her first, and his heart leapt up into his throat when he realized, beyond any doubt, that it truly was Tori.

"T-Tori?" he called after her, as her honey hair bounced against her shoulders while she was walking away from him towards the barracks. She spun around at the sound of her name, and Armin finally got a good look at the girl he hadn't seen or heard from in years.

Her hair was the same as he remembered, wavy and honey blonde, framing her face. Her eyes were the same too; large, round, and sky blue against her light skin, and the same slightly upturned button nose still sat between those eyes. But she had definitely grown; there was no doubt about that. Her face wasn't as chubby as it had been when she was a child, and she was, of course, much taller. Her body was shaping out and taking the form of a young woman. She made the uniform look pretty damn good, and he could feel the heat rising up in his cheeks as he looked her over from head to toe.

The rest of the 105th had already made their way off of the training grounds by now, but Armin and Tori continued to stare at each other for a long while, as if time had stopped and the people around them didn't exist.

* * *

The boy that had called her name stood in front of her now, only a few feet away, and she stared at him with a confused look on her face. He seemed to know who she was, and she had to admit, he looked so familiar, but she was having a hard time placing his face. He stared at her with enormous blue eyes that were filled with hope, searching her face for some spark of recognition. She suddenly felt that it was important that she remembered who he was; possibly more important than anything in her life had ever been. She studied him again, taking in his blonde hair and blue eyes, trying to connect them to a name…but she connected him to a feeling before anything else. A feeling of warmth and friendship, a feeling of adventure, and of great sadness when she had thought he had died…Armin…

"Armin…" she breathed. So many feelings, some she didn't even recognize, rushed through her entire being when it had finally dawned on her who he was. Her face must have looked like it was performing acrobatic stunts as she felt shock, happiness, relief, anger, sadness, and regret roll over her features. She didn't really know how to react, to be honest. She had thought he was dead! She had wanted to join the military because of him, but then she had forgotten about him and the promises she had made him as life went on and she was swept away with it. Her heart filled with guilt as she stared at the boy and wondered why she hadn't recognized him before. He was much taller now, but other than that he hadn't really changed much. He still had the same hair and the same boyish features and his eyes were still filled with the same kindness she had once known. How could she have forgotten so easily? How was he still alive?!

She didn't notice that she was the only cadet from the 105th still standing in the training field; she only had eyes for the young man who had called her name and now stood in front of her with a smile slowly forming across his face. She was in so much shock that she couldn't say another word, she couldn't even move.

It was a different voice, from someone that she had never heard before, who broke the silence first. "So, you really are this Tori that Armin told us about. I'm Eren, and this is Mikasa. We're his best friends."

Tori dragged her eyes away from Armin's and looked at the two people that stood on either side of him. The one who had spoken to her was a brown haired young man, taller than Armin, with startling green eyes. The other was a beautiful young woman, also a bit taller than Armin, with silky black hair and sad gray eyes.

But Tori had barely glanced their way before her attention was focused back in Armin. She wanted to respond somehow, she wanted to ask Armin how he had been and how he had survived Shiganshina, or maybe walk towards him to give him a handshake or maybe even a hug, but her mouth wouldn't form the words and her feet wouldn't move. What was wrong with her? Why was he having such an effect on her?

"Tori, it really is you, I can't believe it," Armin said and took a tentative step closer to her, but he wasn't sure how far he should go. The only thing she had done so far was say his name and stare at him in shock. "You look a lot different than you used too, but we were just little kids back then so it makes sense…I still recognized you though. Um, how have you been?" he asked nervously.

"Armin," she finally said. "I…I thought you were dead." A tear formed in her eye and she tried to hide it by turning her head and wiping it away. "I'm sorry, I…maybe I should go, I promised a friend I'd help her with something," Tori stammered uncertainly and started to back away from the three cadets. "It's, um, good to see you again," she said before turning and walking away as quickly as she could.

"Tori, wait!" Armin called, but she couldn't look back, the tears were building up inside and she couldn't let him see them. He couldn't know how badly she had broken the promises she had made him and what a weak person she had been to give up on everything she used to be. She wiped the tears furiously from her face and tried to remind herself that she had done it all for her family and her brother, but seeing Armin, large as life in front of her, had given her doubts about her decisions; doubts she couldn't seem to shake.

Armin didn't know what to do. He wanted to run after her and ask her what had happened and why she was so upset, but it was obvious she didn't want to be near him. It was like seeing him had done something to her. He realized she was different in more than just appearance, and that it had been foolish to think she would be the exact same after all these years. He had changed too, but had remained true to the values and ideas he had always believed in. It seemed to him that Tori may have changed in a different way. If he could just talk to her! He needed to know why seeing him again had made her so upset. He had thought she would be happy to see him.

"Well that didn't go the way I thought it would," Eren said as they watched Tori retreat at great speeds.

"There's something wrong," Armin said, his heart slowly sinking. "What did I do wrong?"

"It's sort of strange, Armin. Didn't you tell me you only knew her for a few days? I thought this would be just a simple friendly reunion, but there's obviously something else going on here," Eren observed.

"She said she thought I had died," Armin said, still confused and depressed about the situation.

"You should go after her," Mikasa counseled.

Armin looked at both of his friends and his eyes widened at the thought, but curiosity and his selfless heart got the better of him and he nodded to his friends before starting off after Tori at a jog. His thoughts were moving at hyper speeds through his head wondering what could possibly be the matter with Tori. It was true she must have heard about the attack on Shiganshina and she knew that was where he lived, but had the news really affected her that much? Was she really that upset over his death? He agreed with Eren, there was definitely something more going on and he needed to find out.

"Tori, please, stop!" Armin called to her again when he had finally caught up.

Tori cringed at his voice and tried to go a little faster so that he would get the message that she didn't want to speak with him right now and that she needed some time to think things through, but he grabbed onto her arm without thinking and she was forced to stop and whirl around to face his confused blue eyes.

"Armin, please," she pleaded, her own eyes starting to water again. "Can we talk later? I really need to be alone."

"I just want to know what's wrong. If I did something to hurt you I want to know so I can fix it. I had thought you'd be excited to see me after so long and that we could pick up where we left off…but now you're upset and I can't help but feel like it's somehow my fault," the boy said softly, still holding onto her arm, afraid that if he let go she would slip away again.

"It's not you, it's me. I need to figure this out, there's nothing you can do," she continued, trying to keep her emotions buried.

"Tori, please let me help you," he insisted.

"Armin, you died!" she suddenly shouted and tears started coming more freely down her face. "I thought I'd never see you again and I'm different now! I forgot about you, and I changed."

"It doesn't matter now. I'm not dead, Tori. I never died, and I've never stopped being your friend, no matter how much you change," he assured her.

Tori suddenly threw her arms around the startled boy and finished sobbing into his shirt. Armin let her, still highly confused about the whole thing, but a little relieved that she still seemed to like him enough to want to be this close to him and let him comfort her. He held her while she cried and tried to figure out on his own why she was being so emotional, but kept coming up with a blank.

Tori finally calmed down and let him go, but didn't move away from him, as she dried her eyes on her sleeve. "I'm sorry, Armin. Thanks for letting me get all of that out. I feel like I haven't had a good cry in a long time," she said.

"Do you feel any better now?" he asked.

"Yeah, a little better. It really is good to see you again; you don't know how much I missed you when I thought the Titans had eaten you. But here you are now," she said with a smile coming back onto her face. "It's like a miracle."

"I missed you too, Tori," Armin said with a smile of his own. "You know, you still haven't told me why you were really upset, I know it's more than you let on."

Tori's eyes fell at this and she seemed to get uncomfortable again. "I know, and I'll tell you soon enough, but I really do have to go right now," she said.

"Okay, but let's talk soon. I haven't seen you in so long and I want to know all about how you've been and why you joined the Training Corps," Armin said, disappointed that she was still trying to avoid him.

"Alright, next time we're both free," she said, then hesitated a little before adding, "I promise."

Armin nodded and then let her go and she moved away from his warmth and comfort to go face the demons that had suddenly been bombarding her with doubt. She still didn't want to tell him what had happened. Would he still want to be her friend even after he knew what she had become? Even worse was that, even after seeing Armin again and remembering the friendship they had shared, she was still set on joining the Military Police and she'd have to tell him sooner or later. Tori sighed and walked away from her old friend and towards the barracks. At least it had been nice to see him again and hold him close one last time.

* * *

 **Armin and Tori finally meet again, but it didn't go as smoothly as Armin had hoped! I actually had a lot of trouble with this chapter, trying to get the meet up how I wanted it, but I hope this is satisfactory. Anyways, as always please leave reviews if you'd like to say something and feel free to ask any questions via the reviews or PM. I will always answer what I can! Thanks!**

 **(I may be changing up the story summary in the future just a little because I don't really like it, but the story itself will be the same.)**

 **Cheese.1000lb** **: I have no idea if Shadis is the only Commandant or not, but if he is as you say, then that makes it all the better for my story, thanks!**

 **MaybeAYoutuber:** **Oh, I have some plans for Annie! Hopefully Armin can convince her to change back to the Scouts, but we'll have to see if he's up to the challenge!**


	8. A Bump on the Head

Chapter 8: A Bump on the Head

Tori sat in the classroom, soaking up all the information she could about the care and maintenance of 3DMG gear. The cadets of the 105th regiment were going to start learning the basics of the gear today, which was one of the most important skills they could master in order to defeat Titans. First, however, they had to learn how to take care of the gear so it would take care of them. There seemed to be a lot of oiling and cleaning involved, as well as making sure the blades stayed sharp and the cables stayed taut and strong. Tori took copious notes, while Sheila, who sat right next to her, simply stared at the board with a blank expression and wrote a few things down every now and then.

Soon enough they all headed back to the training field to receive their assigned gear and learn how to use it. The day was a little overcast, much to Tori's relief. She wasn't used to standing outside for long periods of time under the hot blaring sun and her skin had been turning an uncomfortable shade of red as it burned. Most of the other cadets, even the pale ones like her, were used to working hard hours outside, and they were simply bronzing.

For some reason that made her think of Armin, and how his skin had seemed to appear slightly more bronzed than what she had remembered. Most things made her think of Armin. In fact, she had Armin on her mind most of the time when she wasn't using it to concentrate on training. It had been a few days since she had last seen him back on the training field and had cried into his shirt. Her cheeks heated up in embarrassment; she was still ashamed for getting so emotional in front of him. When she had returned to her bunk after seeing him again for the first time, she had tried to sort things out in her head and figure out how she would tell him that she didn't want to join the Scout Regiment anymore, and that she had to think about others and not just herself. She still hadn't come up with a solution, so she had decided to stick with just avoiding him for now. Luckily the 104th regiment was being kept pretty busy with everything they were learning.

Sheila had pried, of course. When Tori had come back from the aptitude test later than everyone else, the hazel eyed girl had pestered her until she finally had to tell her that she had been talking to an old friend.

"Was this old friend a boy?" Sheila had asked. The girl was lying on her stomach with a pillow under her arms and chin, staring at Tori with interest.

"So what if he was?" Tori said.

"Well, it looks like you've been crying…so, was there something going on between you?"

"No! We were…are…just friends. He's from Shiganshina, and I thought he was dead," Tori replied, hastily rubbing her face in hopes the redness of her tears could be wiped away.

"Oh, the drama of young love!" Sheila sighed and rolled over on her back.

"I told you, it's nothing like that!" Tori exclaimed. "Even if…well, he certainly won't be interested in me once I tell him I'm joining the Military Police."

"Why not?"

"I kind of promised him back when we were kids I would join the Scouts."

"So that's what you meant when you told me you had wanted to join the Scouts! Well I still think you should."

"Sheila, I told you why I can't. I just hope he understands when I finally work up the courage to tell him," Tori said miserably.

"I can help you out there! I was the master matchmaker back in my home town," Sheila smiled.

"Why do I find that hard to believe," Tori giggled, happy that her friend was helping to ease her pain a little.

"It's true! Ask anyone! All you have to do is point the lucky guy out to me and, bam! He's yours."

"Right," Tori continued laughing.

"Will you two weirdos shut up the hell up already?!" Rose yelled at them from across the room. The two girls couldn't help but laugh some more.

Now, standing under the clouds, new set of gear in hand, Tori's insides twisted when she thought of Armin and how she hadn't spoken a word to him since their meeting. She had to stop putting this off. It was only going to get worse the longer she waited.

"Alright, cadets, listen up!" Shadis yelled, snapping Tori from her thoughts. "Today you are going to learn how to attach your gear to your harness and maneuver with it on the ground. Then, if I feel like you greenhorns have earned it, I'll let you practice using it for a short period of time over on the course."

The 105th regiment quietly murmured to each other, some in excitement and some in dread, about the possibility of actually learning to use their gear so soon. Sheila was ecstatic, and Tori felt a mix of excitement and nervousness. She couldn't mess this up! If she couldn't do well enough then she didn't have a chance at joining the Military Police.

"Shut the fuck up!" Shadis roared at them, and suddenly you could have heard a pin drop as silence immediately fell upon the cadets. "A volunteer from the 104th has agreed to demonstrate how you attach your gear, not that he had a choice in the matter. Cadet Arlert! Get your skinny ass over here!"

Tori felt panic rise up in her chest and her stomach started to flip flop as she watched Armin quickly approach Shadis from across the field with his 3DMG gear banging against his thighs _. Why did it have to be him!_ Armin silently took his place next to the Commander, and as he turned to face the 105th his eyes immediately swept the crowd and landed on hers. She looked away quickly, trying to pretend their eyes hadn't locked, but she knew she'd eventually have to look at him again. She was so rattled that she felt like she needed to scream or run away right then and there, but she didn't. She took a deep breath and forced herself to look back up, seeing the concerned look on his face, and sending him a small shy smile. That seemed to satisfy him, because he smiled shyly back and then focused on Shadis.

"Alright, Arlert, show the 105th how it's done."

"Yes, Sir," Armin shouted and released a few straps to let his gear fall to the ground. Once it was off he nervously faced the crowd of new cadets and tried clearing his throat, but apparently he was taking a little bit too long for Shadis' liking.

"What's the matter, Arlert! Did you never really know how to assemble the gear in the first place and have been whining to your friends this whole time behind my back to help you?!" Shadis yelled at him.

"N-no, sir," Armin stuttered, now completely thrown off by the harassing remarks. His cheeks were red and he suddenly couldn't look at the 105th anymore.

"Then get a move on it!" Shadis roared.

But now Armin was completely frazzled by the task at hand and sweating with nervousness from being so close to his commander. The blonde tried to arrange the straps of the harness that had fallen to the ground around him and pull them back up over his shoulders, but he kept getting them tangled up due to his shaking hands.

"It looks to me like I was right about you all along, Arlert! You're not good for anything but a Titan snack! How do you expect to fight if you can't even untangle a few straps?!" Shadis yelled in his face.

Armin didn't say anything back; he was too terrified and embarrassed to even think straight. What the 105th regiment must think of him! Bumbling around up here in front of them like he had no idea what he was doing! He could do this, he knew he could. He'd always assembled his gear within the time limits during tests. Maybe Shadis was right? Maybe it was because Eren and Mikasa were always right there with him and he relied on them and their calmness much more than he should. On his own he couldn't do anything!

The young man tried to calm his nerves and drown out Shadis' yelling and the 105th regiment's quiet snickering and focus on the task at hand. He finally got the straps to the harness assembled correctly, but he still hadn't said a word to the 105th. He was never very good at public speaking, being on the shy side, but this humiliation was much worse and he didn't think he could even look at them again. Instead he quietly picked up the first piece of the 3DMG and started to fasten it to his harness.

"Arlert! I asked you here to show the new cadets how to assemble the gear, not quietly assemble it over there by yourself without explaining anything to them!" Shadis badgered him again. "Or can you not even speak without your boyfriend Yeager here to help you?"

"Sorry, sir," Armin said. _How much more of this could he take?_ _What must Tori be thinking of him right now? Was she one of the ones making rude comments?_

He faced the cadets in front of him, but still avoided their eyes, "You choose the vertical maneuvering device and attach it to the harness at the waist like this," he explained.

"Louder!" Shadis yelled.

Armin repeated himself, yelling it at the top of his lungs, but Shadis stopped him again, telling him no one could understand him when he squawked like that. When he finally spoke to the cadets in a tone and volume the Commander was satisfied with, there was the fact that he held the equipment backwards or tied the straps in the wrong way that caused Shadis to yell at him over and over again and continued to humiliate him in front of the 105th.

Armin was near quitting, he could feel tears on the verge of spilling over, but he didn't want to cry in front of the 105th. That would be beyond embarrassing. That was when he finally glanced up at the cadets in front of him, just once and very briefly, and seeing the look of complete concern for him on Tori's face, and anger at her fellow cadets for making fun of him, was enough to keep Armin going. Shadis never stopped yelling and finding faults, but Armin never quit. He couldn't when he had a friend like Tori silently rooting for him.

Finally Armin stood, panting and sweating under the sun, with his gear correctly assembled in front of the 105th regiment.

"Well, it's about god damned time, Arlert. I'd say probably around fifty different Titans could have eaten you about a hundred times over in the time it took you to get that on. You're dismissed! Go tell Ackerman and Leonhardt to meet me at the course fully geared up. I was going to invite you, but seeing as you've fully embarrassed yourself here, I might as well not give you another chance to do it again. A man's got to have some dignity…if you're even a man."

"Yes, sir!" Armin said and saluted before ducking his head and hastily walking back to the 104th barracks to find Ackerman and Leonhardt.

Tori watched him go, feeling a strange rage build up inside her at the humiliation Armin had just been put through. He was very strong and brave to never give up despite all that mental torture, but the whole time she had just whished he would quit and make it stop. Why was she even feeling like this for him? It was because they were friends, that's why. She was allowed to want to look out for him and have his back. She decided that maybe she should stop avoiding him and finally face him with the truth. He deserved that much, and if they truly were still friends, he wouldn't hate her for changing.

Tori and the others practiced assembling their gear before they went off to the training course. It was an awkward process, and surprisingly, Armin had done much better with Shadis yelling at him than any of the 105th could do on their own. Shadis patrolled the ranks and gave out advice and tips in his usual unfriendly manner. Tori took a little while to get used to where each piece went, but once she worked at it for a bit it was pretty self explanatory, and she had her gear securely attached to her harness.

The troops practiced walking around the training field to get used to the way the gear felt on their waists and to make minor adjustments in sizing. The gear given to them would be what they used for the rest of their military careers and it was important to get it calibrated just right so that it was comfortable. They didn't have any blades yet, but Shadis did allow them to practice darting around the field with their gear cables, though there was nothing for the grapples to hook onto. They still got a small feel for how the equipment worked. Tori thought it felt strange, feeling your body suddenly get yanked forward and flying at high speeds across the ground. It would probably be even stranger when they actually got to use the gear on the course, where they would practice zipping though the air at great heights. Tori felt her stomach drop at the thought. She wasn't that great with heights and she sure hoped she could overcome her fears enough to use the gear effectively.

After Shadis thought the cadets had trained enough, he had them line up with their gear assembled along the training course. It was a long, straight course with many tall structures for the cadets to practice getting airtime with the 3DMG. There was also room to place Titan cut outs for practicing their slicing techniques, but they weren't going to get into that until much later.

Mikasa Ackerman, one of the most talented and promising cadets of the 104th, stood at a distance with her gear and a stony expression on her face. Annie Leonhardt stood nearby, considerably shorter than Mikasa but just as skilled. Tori was impressed by the way they seemed so confident and sure of themselves. Mikasa looked as if nothing could stand in her way, and Annie just looked bored.

"Alright, newbies, pay attention. Ackerman and Leonhardt are going to run through the course and I want you to watch how they move. You will be learning to control yourself in the air soon enough, but there is much to learn from observation. Ackerman and Leonhardt are two of the best when it comes to the 3DMG, though even they still have much to learn," Shadis explained. He gave the go ahead to the two 104th cadets and they moved as one onto the course.

They were suddenly in the air in the blink of an eye, pulling the triggers on the operating devices and flying away when their grappling hooks caught hold of something and pulled them forward. They were incredibly fast. So fast that Tori could barely keep up with them as the dark haired girl and the light haired girl twisted and flipped through the course, not once touching the ground. The gas from their canisters jetted thick steam as they went, and it seemed to Tori that they used it without thought to rationing it out in order to go faster. They were done in no time flat, and down the course and back, and Tori wondered how she'd ever learn how to do that so quickly. Mikasa and Annie had only been training for half a year and they were already so good!

"Alright, cadets, now that you've seen how it's done, are there any volunteers to give it a try first?" Shadis asked, to the surprise of the new cadets. Several hands shot up into the air, Sheila's was one of them, but Tori decided maybe she should play it safe and hang back.

"Haize, you're up!"

Shit.

Tori walked to the front of the course on automatic, listening to the sounds of disappointment from the few who had wanted to be chosen. She would have gladly switched places with them, but maybe this was for the best. She did have to learn to be good enough to join the Military Police.

"Alright, princess, crash course on how to use the gear," Shadis said to her. "Use the triggers on your operating device handles to release the steel cables. You can adjust how much gas you use and your speed by the pressure you put on the triggers. Shift your weight from each of your hips and each foot to perform maneuvers." Shadis continued, but Tori barely caught any of the important information he was telling her, she was so nervous!

"Last of all, don't die. Now get out there and give it a try, cadet," he finished.

 _Don't die? What were the probabilities of that?_ Tori didn't have time to ask before he shoved her out onto the course. She stood alone, looking down the long stretch ahead of her, and pulled the operating devices from the holsters on her sides. Her hands shook as she held them, but she stilled them quickly and looked around for a good place to send the steel cables out too. She selected her target and angled so she faced it. This couldn't be that bad right? Tori took a deep breath and pulled the triggers, a little too quickly, and the steel cables shot forward and buried themselves into a wooded structure before her gas kicked in and she was catapulted forward.

It was much, much harder than she had expected, and also much more terrifying. Her body flew and flopped like a ragdoll, she didn't have the muscle strength to control herself. And she also didn't know how to avoid smacking into the wall she had aimed for. Her first experience with 3DMG gear ended with a hard body slam right into the wooden wall, and the world faded to black as she lost consciousness.

* * *

"Tori…Tori can you hear me?"

Tori groggily opened her eyes, and saw a pair of hazel ones hanging over her. She sat up abruptly and almost banged her already damaged head with her friend, Sheila's.

"What happened, Sheila?" she asked, looking around to see that she was in the infirmary.

"You were knocked out! You went flying so fast into that wall that no one could even try to stop you. Just what were you thinking?" the girl asked.

"I did it just as they told us to, I just couldn't control myself, and I had no idea how to stop," Tori said, rubbing her bandaged head.

"You just let go of the triggers," Sheila pointed out.

"Oh, right. Well it should have been you out there. I was so nervous I couldn't remember anything. I bet Shadis was beyond pleased when I knocked myself out."

"Oh, yes, he looked like he just had a birthday surprise or something. Then he went on to tell us everything you did wrong while you were just hanging there, completely out cold, by your cables. Mikasa had to go pull you down and then a couple of us took you here. It was really quite funny." Sheila said with a small giggle.

"Hysterical," Tori replied sarcastically and laid her head back down. "Will I be able to leave here soon?"

"As soon as the nurse releases you, probably tomorrow morning. I'll see about getting you some food."

"Wow…thanks, Sheila," Tori said, surprised that the girl was being so helpful.

"Why so surprised?" Sheila said when she noticed Tori's tone.

"It's just…well…I've never really had a friend who cared as much as you. I would have expected to wake up with no one around, but you were here," Tori admitted.

"Then you've never had any true friends. We're supposed to look out for each other. I'd expect you to do the same for me."

Tori smiled at this, hoping she'd never let Sheila down as a friend. It made her feel warm inside to see the girl sitting at the edge of her bed and offering comfort. It made her think back to when she had read books with Armin in Mitras.

"Oh, no! Armin!" Tori exclaimed.

"What now?" Sheila asked, confused.

"I was going to find Armin after training today to talk to him, but I guess I can't now."

"Isn't he the one who you talked to yesterday? Your old childhood friend? The idiot who couldn't show us how to properly assemble our gear today?"

Tori scowled, "He's not an idiot. He's probably the smartest person I know. He's just nervous in front of crowds…not to mention Shadis. But yeah, that's Armin. I promised him I'd try to find time to talk with him, and honestly I've been putting it off."

"Not to worry my dear! I'll take care of everything," Sheila said with a wink.

"Sheila, wait, no, I'll just talk with him another time," Tori tried to say, but her friend was already off the bed and out the door.

Tori sighed and settled back down. Sheila probably would just tell Armin what happened and that was all. She'd still try to talk with him when she got out of the infirmary. She thought about getting up, but she saw a very intimidating nurse sitting at a desk a few feet away and decided to just stay in bed. Now she had time to go over in her head how stupid she must have looked smacking into that wall in front of her whole regiment and two people from the 104th. No doubt everyone in the Training Crops knew about Princess Haize the royal screw up. She put her face in her hands and tried not to think about it. It would only make things worse.

After a little while of lying in bed and, unfortunately, still unable to stop going over the events that led to her injury, Tori drifted off to sleep. She was only asleep for what seemed to her a few minutes, before she was awoken by a soft voice.

"Tori?" the voice asked. "Are you awake?"

Tori slowly opened her eyes, at first annoyed that her sleep was disturbed, but then curious to find out who had called her name. It definitely wasn't Sheila, and she was the only one who would probably come to visit, so who could it be? Her tired eyes focused on a pair of bright blue ones framed by golden blonde hair.

"Armin! W-what are you doing here?" Tori said nervously, heart rate speeding up.

Armin stood by her bed, a tray of food in his hands that he seemed to be fiddling with uneasily. "Uh, this strange girl from the 105th came and found me and told me I should bring this to you," he said, indicating the food tray.

"Oh, it must have been Sheila. I didn't think she'd _actually_ go and find you when I told her I wanted to talk to you," Tori blushed.

"You wanted to talk with me?" the boy asked.

"Um, yeah. I feel bad for not really trying harder to find time to talk with you before."

"I'm sorry about that too, but Shadis always has us doing something. We don't get much down time," Armin said and then paused for awhile, still holding the tray of food, before finally saying, "I'm free right now if you want to talk?"

"Uh, sure," Tori smiled feebly.

Armin smiled, but still stood with the tray of food in his hands.

"You can sit on the bed if you'd like," Tori said. "I'll take the food."

"Ok, if you don't mind," he replied and approached her bed. He handed her the tray, careful to make sure she had a firm grip on it before letting go, and then sat down on the edge of her bed. Tori sat up a little higher and rested her back against a pillow in order to talk to him, but at first neither of them said anything and Tori poked her food around on the tray.

"Sorry that was all they had," Armin said, indicating the bowl of soup and bread.

"That's all they usually have," Tori replied, "But its fine."

"So…um…how'd you end up in here?" Armin asked.

"Shadis chose me to be the first cadet of the 105th to try out the 3DMG. I didn't know what I was doing and ran straight into a wall. I'm surprised you hadn't heard about it yet. I thought the whole camp would know," Tori said.

"I hadn't heard, that's why I came over as soon as your friend gave me the food. I'm glad you weren't hurt worse than this. I'd say I can't believe Shadis would make you do such a thing, but he does things like that all of the time. But I don't think he's trying to be mean, I think he's trying to show us what it means to be soldiers and prepare us for what it's really going to be like."

"I hadn't really thought of that," Tori admitted. "I was so nervous, and then I didn't think and just acted. I ended up like this," the girl said while pointing to her bandaged head. "What's even worse is thinking about how ridiculous I must have looked and how everyone must have laughed."

"I'm sure they didn't, they were probably concerned for you," Armin assured her.

"No, people don't really like me, except for Sheila. They all think I'm some stuck up brat from Wall Sina. I thought I could leave that all behind me when I came here, but it looks like it even followed me this far."

"I know you're not. You're really nice and kind, you just need to show them that you aren't what they think. People are always so prejudice and quick to judge no matter where they are from. I know what that's like," Armin said.

"I…I've changed a lot since you knew me when we were kids, Armin. That's what I really wanted to tell you. It's why I was so upset when I first saw you a few days ago. Seeing you again made me realize that I've sort of let you and myself down, but it's too late to change that now," Tori said and looked away from him, too ashamed to look him in the eye.

"I noticed you're not quite the same, but you can't have changed that much. And there's no way you could ever let me down, Tori. I'll still be your friend no matter what," the boy said confidently.

"You don't understand. Things happened, bad things, and now I realize I can't be who I wanted to be," she took a deep breath and forced herself to look at him so that he'd understand…she hoped he'd understand. "I'm joining the Military Police."

Armin seemed confused at first by her revelation and his brows furrowed. "The Military Police? I thought you would join the Scouts. What changed your mind?"

"Lots of things, but I've had a long time to think about it and it's the only way I'll be able to stay near my family and be there for my little brother. He's going to need me, he's not very strong and he gets sick easily," Tor explained quickly, searching Armin's face for some sort of understanding.

"I guess I can understand that. I'd do anything for my family…but, Tori, you also have to think about what _you'd_ want to do too. I knew you once. You were so full of life and adventure. I thought that's what you wanted most?" Armin replied.

"I told you, Armin, some things happened and I had to give up on that dream."

"You don't ever have to give up on your dreams, Tori."

"I have to be responsible now, ok?!" Tori said, getting frustrated with the conversation now. He wasn't going to change her mind!

"Ok, but maybe you should think about it—"

"No, I'm done thinking about it. I'm joining the Military Police and that's final. I just wanted you to know and I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry I won't be able to see the world with you," Tori said, a tone of finality in her voice. "Now you know, let's just drop it, ok?"

Armin shut his mouth and stared down at his hands. She was different from the Tori he once knew. She had snapped at him and there wasn't any warmth in her eyes when she had talked about joining the Military Police. She didn't really want to, he could see it even if she couldn't herself, but there was something holding her back from following her heart and it had to do with more than just her brother. He'd have to work it out of her eventually, but for now he felt it would be best to change the subject.

"I didn't know you had a brother," Armin finally said.

"He was born a few years after you left. His name is Samuel. He's still just a toddler, but he was saying some words when I left for training. I think he was trying to say my name," she said proudly, her eyes brightened again when she talked about her brother.

"I never had any brothers or sisters, but Eren, you remember Eren, he's been like a brother to me sometimes. He's always watching out for me," Armin said.

"He seems a little blunt, but nice enough," Tori said. "Mikasa is amazing! It's really cool that you're her friend!"

"Yeah, they're both great, but sometimes I feel like I rely on them too much. I always hope I'm not bringing them down and becoming a burden," Armin said sadly.

"I'm sure you're not. You have your own value you know," Tori said, giving him a warm smile.

"Oh, yeah, like what? You saw me today; I couldn't even put my gear on straight. Shadis may be right, what if the only reason I could do it before was because Eren and Mikasa were always there with me," Armin sighed.

"You did fine! Anyone would have been shaky and nervous if Shadis was insulting them the way he was with you! It made me angry to see him treat you like that, but you were really brave to never give up. You kept on going no matter how much he yelled at you, and you did assemble the gear correctly in the end. Maybe it's like you said; Shadis is just trying to get us to overcome our weaknesses so we can be stronger," Tori reassured her friend.

"Well if that's so then he's got plenty to do with me! I feel so useless next to cadets like Mikasa and Reiner."

"You'll be fine, Armin. I know you can do it; you did survive Shiganshina after all. You've got a lot of courage," Tori smiled. "I mean, you did see this incredible cut on my head, right? You're not the only one he's going to have to work on!"

"Yeah, how does that feel, by the way," Armin asked and reflexively reached his hands over to rest on her head and inspect the bandage.

"It's not too bad, just a dull pain that doesn't seem to go away," she said. Her head had been a little painful during their whole conversation, but she was just starting to notice it now that the conversation had shifted to the wound.

"You must have hit your head pretty hard," Armin observed.

"I was knocked unconscious," Tori replied, and couldn't help but start to melt into Armin's soft touch. He was moving his hands over her head, gently putting pressure in some areas, and the pain was starting to ebb away.

"How are you doing that? It doesn't hurt as much anymore," Tori said quietly, closing her eyes.

"I read about it once. My mom used to get headaches a lot."

Tori nodded and let the warmth from Armin's fingers seep into her head and calm her down. She found herself leaning closer to him, and she relaxed, feeling his presence and how close he was to her. She had really missed him. There was so much to talk about, so much to catch up on, but right now she just wanted to sit quietly with her friend and his gentle hands.

Armin was happy to sit there with Tori as well. He ran his hands through her silky soft hair and applied gentle pressure to the spots on her head that would help ease some of her pain. She was relaxing and her face was peaceful. Like back when they were kids and had spent time together in the massive library. It made him want to trace his fingers down her face and memorize every detail, before her face turned hard and cold again, but he had to stop himself, not knowing how she would react to such an intimate gesture. She opened her sky blue eyes and looked at him, as if she knew what he was thinking in his head, but then the intimidating nurse broke up their wordless conversation before anything else happened.

"Young man, shouldn't you be getting back to your regiment? Cadet Haize needs to rest," the large woman said standing over the two of them.

"Yes, ma'm," Armin said hastily and stood, taking away the sweet touch of his hands from Tori's head. She could already feel the pain stating to come back.

"I'll come visit you again, tomorrow if I can, if that's alright," Armin said to her.

"Hopefully I'll be out of here by then," Tori said. "But that's alright with me."

"Ok, we still have a lot to talk about," Armin told her.

"Yeah…I'll see you later, Armin, and thanks."

"Goodnight," Armin said and slowly turned to leave, looking back at her and waving awkwardly before he left the building.

Tori waved back and then leaned back on the bed, relief washing over her that he had somewhat understood her reasoning for wanting to join the Military Police and seemed to be okay with it for now. She had a feeling that he wasn't going to just let it go that easily though, and somewhere deep down, she felt a small part of herself hope he might be able to change her mind.

* * *

 **Please leave any reviews and questions for me! I love to hear from you all! My internet situation is a little crazy right now, that's why updates have been slower, but I'm getting it worked out. Oh, and I changed the story summary to see if I like it better or not, It's still the same story though! Until next time!**


	9. Trust in Your Gear

Chapter 9: Trust in Your Gear

The next couple of weeks were grueling for Tori. She hadn't missed that much after her short visit to the infirmary, but Shadis wasted no time throwing the cadets of the 105th straight into practicing with the 3DMG, and due to her first bad experience with the gear, Tori struggled more than most of the other recruits at first. It didn't help that she was now a joke either. Every time someone screwed up with the gear and hurt themselves slamming into a wall, the whole regiment would laugh and compare the blunder to her little accident.

"Uh oh, better be careful, you might turn out like Tori! Then you'll be sure to get kicked out of training," they would tease each other.

Tori tried not to let it get to her, and she never showed any reaction to their comments. She couldn't let them know how much it hurt her to be the butt of their jokes, but they were right. The constant laughing and teasing was really lowering her self esteem and she just knew it was a matter of time before Shadis called her into his office to have a little "talk." So much for being good enough to join the Military Police.

Sheila tried to keep her spirits up, but Tori couldn't stop from sinking lower and lower into depression. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't build up the confidence to use the gear effectively. She danced around in it, trying to dart from building to building with the rest of the regiment, but she was slow and too careful with the way she maneuvered. She was just trying to avoid crashing again, but it was costing her rank.

She was so caught up in her failure, and so worried about the consequences, that she had, again, let Armin slip from her mind. It wasn't until she bumped into him, on her way to find some books about how to better use the 3DMG, that she remembered they were supposed to be meeting during their free time to talk.

"Oh, hey, Tori, how's your head?" Armin said with a charming smile on his face when he saw her in the Training Corps insignificant library.

"Armin! It's fine, how have you been?" she asked.

"Not so great to be honest," he chuckled. "I'm definitely the weakest link in the 104th regiment. I keep falling behind on the runs and my combat skills are just terrible."

"At least you can use the 3DMG," Tori muttered.

"Are you having problems with it?"

"Yeah, I can't seem to keep up with everyone else and I'm afraid of using it ever since my accident. Not many people in my regiment are very supportive anyways. They think it's all a big joke."

"Well you can't join the Military Police if you can't use the 3DMG. That's a big category for ranking up," the boy said.

"Don't I know," she sighed.

"Umm, hey I have an idea. I could maybe watch you practice and give you some tips on what you're doing wrong if you'd like," Armin said.

"You'd really take time out of your days off to help me?" Tori asked.

"Sure, we're friends right? Friends help each other out."

"Right…okay then, thanks a lot, Armin."

"No problem, I'll see you on the course."

* * *

Armin swung his hands anxiously and rocked up and down on the balls of his feet as he waited for Tori to show up for their first 3DMG lesson. He was both nervous and excited to finally be spending some quality time with the girl he hadn't really talked to in years. The training course was empty; most people on their days off preferred to do things that were a little more fun and relaxing rather than spending their day training. _Most_ people, that was. Annie was probably off doing something productive and he just knew Mikasa was probably working out. Eren was currently snoring loudly in bed and there hadn't been anything Armin could do to wake the boy up.

The sound of light footsteps alerted Armin to Tori's arrival and he took a deep breath before turning to greet her, telling himself he wasn't going to do anything stupid or act like an idiot in front of her. They were just friends helping each other out and he wasn't going to mess that up.

"Hey Armin," Tori waved. She wore her gear awkwardly and seemed to have trouble walking normally with it on as she approached him. "Thanks so much for offering to help me out."

"Sure," Armin said. "I I think I know the perfect place to start."

"Ok, where's that?"

"Well, I noticed that you don't seem very comfortable walking in your gear, and the first most important lesson in wearing it is to feel comfortable in it. Mind if I check how you have it fitted?" Armin asked.

"Okay," said Tori.

Armin walked around Tori in a circle, eyeing the gear with a knowledgeable eye and inspecting how it hung around her hips. He also used this opportunity to inspect Tori as well, noting the way she held herself and how she naturally stood. He soon extrapolated from her how the gear should be arranged to best suite her style, though he'd also have to watch her in action to make any final adjustments.

"Alright, let me just adjust some of your straps and I think you'll be able to move easier," he said. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all," Tori replied.

Armin tightened and loosened various parts of the harness and gear until he had it balanced out on her body the way he wanted it. Then he stood back and inspected his work. "Now try moving around in it," he told her.

Tori walked around, and she was surprised to find the gear didn't get in her way as much and she didn't have to constantly worry with it as she walked. "Wow, Armin, it's much better now! How did you know how to do all that?"

"Oh, I just read about how to better fit your gear to your body in one of the study books, but I don't think many other people read it because I've had to do a lot of adjustments for some of my other squad members," the boy said, pleased by the praise she had given him.

"Well, I still feel a little awkward in it, but it's not as bad as it was. What's next?"

"I think I should watch you run the course so I can see what kinds of problems you're having."

Tori nodded, dreading this moment, and went out to the course. She really wanted to learn how to be better, but she wasn't so sure she wanted Armin to see how much she sucked at this. She didn't really have any other options, though, and when she thought about it, Armin really was the best person to help her out with this. She knew he at least wouldn't laugh at her.

The blonde girl stepped out onto the course once again and took another deep breath, trying to calm her beating heart. She always got worked up when she came out here. She was afraid of what might happen; anything could happen. She gripped the operating handles and triggered the release of the steel cables and gas to propel her forward onto the first structure. She landed successfully and moved on to the next and the next until she had completed the whole course. Nothing had happened and she hadn't missed any of her marks, but her heart had been pounding and her breath had been fast and ragged the entire time. She had tried to concentrate on what she was doing, but she couldn't help to think about Armin watching her and how slow she must have been. The adjustments Armin had made to her gear had helped her improve, but it still wasn't enough.

Armin had been watching her carefully as she zipped through the obstacle course, but he had been trying to figure out what was making Tori so stiff and awkward. Sure she didn't miss her marks and completed the course accurately and without any slip ups, but she was painstakingly slow and took too much time to decide where she was going to go and how she was going to do it. He watched her approach him after her run, her head was down and she looked at him abashedly. She knew she hadn't done that well. The stiff way she walked, the nervousness in the air, the way she looked at the gear and held the grips with doubt in her eyes…he suddenly had an idea what might be the matter.

"So, how'd I do?" Tori asked, already knowing the answer.

"You have good technique and you do know how to use it, you just aren't letting yourself go. You aren't _trusting_ your gear to get you through. Here, this time you watch me…but don't laugh, I'm not the best at this either," Armin chuckled nervously.

"You can't be any worse than I am," Tori replied.

Armin zoomed out onto the course and stated into his routine, trying to keep his confidence up so he could show Tori. He suddenly wished he was as skilled as Mikasa or Jean, they should be the ones showing Tori how to move, not him. He wasn't as muscular and built as the rest of his regiment and he still found aspects of using his gear difficult. He kept his movements basic and didn't try anything too fancy even if that meant fighting the drive to show off a little in front of Tori. _Remember what you told yourself, don't be an idiot!_

Tori clapped when he returned and there was a happy smile on her face. "That was really good, Armin! You did it like ten times faster than I did."

"Uh, thanks," Armin smiled nervously. "You should see Mikasa, though. It's like she's flying when she uses her gear."

"I have seen her, and she's real good, but I like your style. It's closer to mine," Tori replied.

"What, awkward and slow?"

"Shut up!" she laughed, lightly hitting him on the arm.

He laughed too, happy the two of them could still get a long and have fun, but then he had to get serious again so he could show Tori what she was doing wrong. "Alright, so I think what you need to focus on is trusting your gear and yourself to move in the right way. I know you had a bad accident with it the first time you tried it out, and I think that's why you have the trust issues, but I'll help you work on getting past that."

"I don't trust my gear? I guess that makes sense. I'm always afraid I'm going to crash again when I'm out there, so I take my time and try not to make any mistakes," Tori observed.

"That's exactly it," Armin said. "Maybe you should try it again, but this time remember how I did it, and just loosen up and let yourself twist and turn with the gear. You're not going to fall or crash. You know how to use it, just trust it to do its job and you do yours. It's the only way to fight Titans. You have to be quick, fast, and trust your instincts and your equipment."

"Okay, I'll give it another try," Tori said and walked back out onto the course.

Armin watched her again, and though she did improve a little on her time, she was still too stiff. "Okay, let's try this," he said when she had returned.

"I'm sorry, Armin, maybe I just can't—"

"No, no, you can do this; you just need a little more confidence in yourself. I know that must sound crazy coming from me, I don't have very much myself, but I'm working on it, same as you," he said.

"Alright, what were you going to try?" Tori asked.

"Well, you may not fully trust your gear, but you trust me, right?" Armin asked, hoping she would agree or his whole plan would be worthless.

"Yeah, of course I do," Tori answered.

"Good, so we're going to play a little game. You've probably heard of it, it's the trust game. You close your eyes and fall backwards, and then I catch you. You have to trust me enough to catch you in order to allow yourself to fall."

Tori swallowed, she had never liked this game. Her father had always teased her with it, sometimes catching her and sometimes letting her fall. She looked at Armin, but could see it in his eyes that he wasn't going to drop her. She nodded and removed her gear so it wouldn't get banged up in the process.

"Okay, I'm ready," she said, turning her back to Armin and closing her eyes tight.

"Me too, you fall whenever you're ready and I'll catch you," Armin said.

"You promise you'll catch me?"

"I promise."

Tori scrunched up her eyes, took a deep breath, and let herself go, putting full trust in the blonde boy to catch her before she hit the ground. In those few brief moments that she was falling backwards, she felt free, and a feeling of warmth washed over her, knowing she was safe and she wasn't going to fall. Armin was there to catch her and she trusted him not to let her down. She landed softly in his arms and opened her eyes to stare up into his face which was upside down right above hers. She was smiling like a school kid about to go on vacation, and her contagious smile soon affected Armin too as he smiled back.

"See, you have the ability to trust. If you can trust me to catch you, you can trust the gear to keep you in the air as long as you use it right," Armin told her softly.

Tori stood up quickly and faced Armin again. "I felt something when I just let go and fell, it was like a feeling of peace and freedom."

"So next time you go out onto the course, try and remember that feeling and let it build up inside you. Remember how it felt to fall backwards and trust me to catch you, then you can feel that way about your gear," Armin explained.

Tori nodded and turned back to the course again. "Just one more try," she said quietly.

She listened to the wind blowing across the field and closed her eyes, scrunching them tight and breathing deeply again. _Armin… think about how it felt to fall back into Armin's arms._ She let the feeling of warmth and peace wash over her, instead of fear and doubt. All she had to do was keep the memory of his smiling face in her head. She took off; gas pushing her forward and steel cables finding their marks and burying themselves into wood and stone. She didn't over think it this time and instead let the motions of the gear twist her body the way it needed to go. She put all the trust she could muster into the gear and let it take control and she flew through the air as fast as she could, dodging and sliding around obstacles as she went. When she came back down, with zipping of cables and the hissing of gas, she saw Armin's surprised but excited face.

"That's it, Tori! You got it!" he yelled excitedly.

"I did it?!" Tori yelled back and raced forward to meet up with her blonde friend.

"Of course you did! And you were so fast! I've never seen anyone that fast…well, except for like Mikasa and Annie and…Oh, it doesn't matter! You'll be fast enough once you practice a little more and figure out the best way to move," Armin said excitedly.

"I was fast? Yes!" Tori shouted. "Thank you, Armin! Thank you! I'll never forget this! Hey, you should help me train all the time!"

"Really? I mean, I'm sure I could get someone who's a little better at his sort of thing to help you out if you'd prefer it. I'm not that good, I may not be the best teacher," Armin said worriedly.

"Armin, you're a great teacher. I think it's because you aren't the best that you understand how I feel and know how to help me. I'd rather train with you than anyone else in the entire Training Corps, you understand me the most out of everyone. And you're one of the only people who actually wants to spend time with me."

"Thank you, Tori," Armin blushed. "I'm sure once everyone gets to know who you really are you'll make more friends. You really are a good person, Tori, don't forget that."

"Sometimes I don't feel like such a good person," she said, the euphoria she felt after completing the course on time was now slowly vanishing again and she was reverting back to her withdrawn self.

"You want to talk about it?" Armin asked.

"Maybe…I'm not sure if—"

"Well, well, well, look what we have here, Krista. A couple of nerds out on a training date?" a voice suddenly said, cutting off Armin and Tori's conversation.

Armin looked up, blushing bright red, to see Ymir and Krista approaching the training course. It was Ymir who had spoken, and Armin could see Krista's apologetic face as she tried to steer Ymir away from Armin and Tori. "Ymir, let's just leave them alone, okay?"

"No way, Krista, this is way too good to pass up," the tall brunette said. "Armin, I didn't know younger girls were your type. Isn't it like illegal to fraternize with anyone from a different regiment?"

"She's only half a year behind us, Ymir, and it doesn't say anywhere we can't help the 105th regiment train," Armin argued, his face still red.

"I don't know, I feel like Shadis should know about this," Ymir said with a glint in her eye.

"Ymir, you wouldn't!" Krista gasped, but Ymir just smiled.

Armin glanced at Tori, seeing her blank face as she watched the two girls from the 104th argue about whether or not they should inform Shadis. Tori suddenly sighed, picked up all of her gear, and then started walking back towards the barracks without saying a word to anyone.

"Tori, wait! Where are you going?" Armin called after her and jogged forward to stand in her way.

"It's alright, Armin. If they don't want us training together I'll just figure this out on my own. I don't want you to get in trouble. Besides, I'm used to good things never working out anyways," Tori said with that fake smile she often used to brush issues aside.

"Tori, Ymir is just kidding around. She's always like that. She tries to get people to owe her favors and stuff by finding ways to blackmail and manipulate them. The only reason she hasn't gone too far is because Krista is always around to balance her out. Don't worry about them, I can handle it," Armin said with an earnest look. He didn't want to lose the time he had with Tori and he didn't really see what the problem would be with him helping her out. Shadis wanted them all to be the best they could be right? Didn't that mean he should help Tori become better?

Tori studied him, believing what he told her, but still having doubts about Ymir. She wanted to train with Armin, but she knew how the world worked and she was used to getting disappointed. Maybe she was getting into this too deep. She couldn't get too close to anyone; the world was too full of danger and despair for that. Armin was thinking about joining the Scouts. He could easily die and she didn't want her heart to break all over again like it had the first time she thought he had died. It would be even worse this time. She could spend way too much time with him here, she could see him every day if she wanted, and if they were suddenly torn apart after all of that, she didn't think she could stand it. It would probably be best if they didn't train together and went their separate ways. She was tired of hurting.

"Hey, Tori, right? It's alright, I talked some sense into Ymir. She's not going to say anything," Krista beamed, running up to Armin and Tori and taking the honey-blonde girl's hands in her own.

"Yeah, I won't tell on you, but that means if I ever need a favor, you both owe me one," Ymir said as she sauntered over.

"Oh, Ymir! Why do you have to tease everyone so much?!" Krista pouted. "So what do you say, Tori? Will you still train with Armin? I know he really wants you too! Right, Armin?"

The boy blushed again, "Yeah, I do. It really helps me out as much as you, Tori. Please? I haven't seen you in so long…don't walk away."

Tori's insides clenched and rolled and she felt herself starting to sweat. The three cadets from the 104th looked at her, waiting for an answer, but she was having a hard time trying to find the words. Everything she had just decided on before was being tossed aside. She had told herself she was going to stay away from Armin, but with him looking at her the way he was right now, with those honest and kind eyes, she couldn't let him down. Hadn't she done that enough? She could train with him, just enough so that he would be satisfied with spending time with her and she could learn to be good enough to get into the Military Police, and then they could part ways, no harm done.

"Tori…" Armin said, worry in his eyes that she was going to say no.

"Okay, I'll do it," Tori smiled. "How could I say no to the three of you?"

"Yes!" Krista exclaimed. "Great, Tori this will be so awesome! Hey, I can help you out too if you ever need it. I really like you a lot," the cute blonde said sweetly.

"Alright, alright, come on, Krista. I've got to get out of here while I still have some of my natural smarts left," Ymir complained, looking at the three various shades of blonde that surrounded her. "Seriously, I feel like my IQ is dropping by the second."

"That is a cruel and vicious lie, Ymir. Armin's got to be the smartest person I know and he's blonde," Krista scolded.

Ymir scoffed and grabbed her petite friend by the arm to start dragging her away. Krista waived to Armin and Tori, "Bye, see you later!"

"Thanks, Krista. Bye, Ymir," Armin waived. He turned back to Tori who was also waving goodbye, eyes wide with surprise. "See, Krista already likes you. I think you're starting to rub off on people," Armin told her.

"Doesn't Krista like everybody?" Tori asked.

Armin chuckled at that. "Hey, I know we kind of team pressured you into your decision. If you'd really rather train on your own, I won't force my help on you. It's just, well, you're fun to spend time with and helping you really helps me out too."

"No, it's fine, Armin. We can keep meeting up."

"Alright, so I thought we could start doing some running and combat training too? To properly use the 3DMG you've got to build up enough muscle. It takes a lot of strength to control your body when it's traveling through the air," Armin suggested.

"Yeah, sounds good to me," Tori replied. "I do pretty well on all the runs Shadis sends us on."

"Good, because I'm always at the back," Armin said nervously. "Maybe running extra with you will help me catch up."

"Okay, well I better get back," Tori said. "Thanks for helping me today. I feel a lot better about using the gear now."

"Sure it was no trouble. Sorry about Ymir."

"It's alright," Tori said.

The two of them glanced awkwardly at each other for a while, each not sure how to leave, there seemed like there was so much more left to say. Tori was feeling a little bit guilty about her decision to eventually part ways with Armin after she had learned all she could from him, and Armin was just nervous around Tori. He wanted her to know he was willing to help her with her problems. He could tell there was something weighing on her heart, keeping her normally cheerful and carefree attitude buried down deep, but every time he tried to get her to talk about it something interrupted them. He didn't want to give up on her and he promised himself he'd get her to talk to him eventually. She said she trusted him, but he could tell it wasn't enough to share her deepest problems with him. All he wanted to do was help her fix them. He owed her that much for being his friend and for abandoning her when their parents had split them apart. He felt like he was the reason she had changed so much.

"Come on, I'll walk you back," Armin said.

Tori nodded and the two of them made their way back to the cadet barracks. Tori stayed in a bunkhouse a little further away from where Armin stayed, but the walk wasn't really that far and Armin didn't mind the trip. They reached the barracks, chatting a little about trivial things such as the weather and what Shadis had in store for them next, and when they arrived at Tori's quarters they were met by an enthusiastic Sheila.

"Hi guys!" she called.

"Oh, hello, Sheila," Tori answered.

"Was your friend able to help you out with your gear?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, we found out that I was just having some trust issues," Tori told her.

"Ha! I could have told you that," Sheila replied. "You don't let anyone get to close, not even me."

"Well, you should have seen her out there once she got the hang of it, she was amazing!" Armin said.

"Really? Does this mean Shadis doesn't have to give you the boot?" Shelia asked.

"I don't know about that. I feel like I still have a long way to go. Armin was just exaggerating a little," Tori blushed.

"You were really good, Tori. But don't worry, we'll work on it some more," the boy replied.

"So, I don't think we've been properly introduced," Sheila said to Armin and held out her hand. "I'm Sheila Benson, Tori's only friend besides you. Sorry for freaking you out when I practically threw that tray of food in your hands and told you to go visit Tori in the infirmary."

"That's okay," Armin smiled, shaking her hand. "Nice to meet you, Sheila. My name is Armin Arlert."

"So, Armin, I hear you're the smartest in your regiment. Want to try and pass some of that knowledge our way from time to time?" Sheila asked.

"Why do you need me? I'm sure Tori is just as smart as I am. Her parents are librarians after all."

"Wait, your parents are librarians?" Sheila asked Tori.

"Um, yeah…" Tori said.

"They are the librarians at the Mitras Library, the biggest library behind the walls. I'm sure she's read most of the books in there. She probably knows more than I do," Armin continued.

"What! Why didn't you tell me? Here I thought you were just some rich snob from Orvud district. You actually have some skills!" Sheila exclaimed.

"Oh, well I didn't think it was important and I didn't really want to give everyone another excuse to make fun of me."

"It's too late for that now," the dark haired girl, Rose, said as she came out of the door of the barracks. "So you're a princess, a failure, and a book nerd. What a fantastic combination," the girl finished sarcastically.

"And who are you to think you're better than Tori?" Armin asked, trying to keep his cool. It wasn't the time to get flustered. He wasn't like Eren and didn't explode into action at every offense, but there was something he didn't like about this girl.

The girl gave him a glare and said, "My name is Rose Wilder. Oh, thanks for the 3DMG lesson earlier. I really learned, well, nothing," she spat and then lightly jumped off of the porch attached to the barracks and made her way to the mess hall.

"Rude," Sheila muttered.

Armin frowned, "Why is she like that?"

"I don't know, but it's not just me, she likes to try and pick fights with everyone," Tori replied.

"Mostly we just ignore her," said Sheila.

A bell rang out in the distance and Armin glanced up at the sky, seeing it darken. "I had better go. It was nice talking to you, Sheila. Tori, I'll see you soon, alright? Don't worry; you're already doing much better. That Rose won't have much to make fun of pretty soon."

"Thanks again, Armin. Have a good night," Tori replied softly.

Armin nodded and walked away towards his own barracks with his hands in his pockets and his gear bouncing against his legs. It was already pretty dark by the time he got back, he could see Eren and Mikasa sitting out on the porch of their barracks and a few of the other cadets were lounging around in other locations. He went to the supply building to put up his gear, and was surprised by another person who was already there, waiting for him.

"Out for an evening practice, Arlert?" Shadis asked from a dark corner, eyes glowing white.

"Y-yes, sir," Armin saluted, caught off guard by his commander.

"With anyone in particular?"

"Uh...I…I was helping Tori Haize from the 105th, sir," Armin replied reluctantly, knowing better than to lie to Shadis.

"Hmmm," the commander said, giving Armin a calculated look. "Carry on, cadet," he finised and walked past Armin out into the night.

Armin's confused eyes followed him out the door, and the blonde wondered if that meant Shadis was fine with him training Tori. He couldn't figure the commander out, so he focused on putting away his gear and then headed back to his quarters for some much needed sleep. He had many different thoughts bombarding his mind again. He might not sleep very well tonight.

* * *

 **More to come! Sorry for the long break...and reviews make me happy! Thanks :)**


	10. Strange Feelings

Chapter 10: Strange Feelings

Armin and Tori jogged down the dirt path that circled the training base side by side. This was about the fifth time they had jogged the track together, and though Armin was still having trouble keeping pace with Tori, who was much faster than he was, he knew he was improving. The two friends had been jogging and training with the 3DMG every chance they could get in order to keep up with their peers. Tori was impressively better at using the 3DMG. She could completely let herself go and her motions were fluid and instinctual based on the situation. Armin didn't even think she really needed extra help any more, but he never told her that outright because he was worried he wouldn't see her as often if he did.

Today they were continuing with their routine, a mile jog in the morning and 3DMG training after that. Tori still hadn't really talked much with Armin other than the usual day to day conversations. She hadn't told him what had really happened to make her want to join the Military Police, and he hadn't quite figured out a way to get her to open up. Every time he tried to start that conversation she would change the subject.

Armin watched her as she ran beside him; her lean muscles that had started to develop over the weeks of training were visible and working hard. Her hair, pulled back in a pony tail, bounced with every step and her eyes were set straight ahead with determination. He was so intent on studying her at the moment, that he didn't see the pot hole in his path before he stepped in it and fell flat on his face.

"Armin! Are you alright?" Tori asked, skidding to a halt and rushing to his aide.

"I'm okay," he replied with a mouthful of dirt.

Armin picked himself up out of the dirt and tested the ankle that had stepped painfully into the hole. It hurt a little but he didn't think there was anything seriously wrong with it. He was much more concerned with the fact that he had tripped over the hole like an idiot right in front of Tori. He was currently covered in dirt and the small amount of pride he had accumulated was hurting more than the ankle ever could.

Tori crouched down in the dirt beside him and immediately inspected his ankle for herself. She held it in her hand and tried moving it in different directions to make sure it wasn't broken.

"Ow, it's alright, Tori. I don't think it's broken," Armin said with a red face.

"Alright, let's stand you up, then," Tori said, offering him a hand.

He took her hand and she helped him get to his feet, letting him lean his weight on her a little as he tested the amount of pain he felt in his ankle. It seemed alright, and he let go of her hand, embarrassed to have needed her help like that. Wasn't he supposed to be the one picking _her_ up?

"So what happened there?" she asked him with an amused look on her face.

"I tripped on that pot hole back there. I must not have been watching the ground," he said. There was no way he was going to tell her it was because he had been watching her run that he tripped.

"It's alright, it could happen to anyone," she laughed.

"Right," he said, brushing off the dirt that still stained his white shirt.

"Do you still think you can train with the 3DMG today?"

"Yeah it should be okay by the time we get there, it's just a little sore," Armin replied.

"We were almost done with the track anyways, we can stop early," Tori suggested.

The two of them made their way to go pick up their gear. Armin limped along beside Tori, and she couldn't help but tease her friend. "Sure you don't need me to carry you?"

Armin gave her an annoyed look, but then what looked like a sad expression crossed his face and he said, "You know, you don't have to run with me if you don't want to. I know you slow yourself down so I can keep up. If you want to go faster you can leave me behind."

"Come on, Armin, do you seriously think I mind that much? I really like the company and you're really not all that much slower."

"I just don't want you to feel like you have to do this to be nice to me or anything. I don't want to drag you down," Armin said. Her words had made him feel better but he was still embarrassed.

"I really mean it, Armin. I want to run with you. It's much nicer than running alone and it makes me feel better to know I'm helping you for all the help you gave me with the gear."

Armin nodded at that and he felt the flush in his cheeks die down a little; he could also walk easier on his ankle. They collected their gear and walked out onto the training course. Armin had an idea he wanted to try that had been floating around in the back of his mind for some time now. He thought Tori was good enough now to be able to handle it.

"So instead of taking turns running the course, I thought we could try doing it together…if you'd like," he suggested. "Shadis will have you working in teams soon enough anyways as part of the training."

"Oh, you don't think that could be dangerous? We'll probably get awfully close to one another, the course isn't that big, we might crash," the girl said with concern.

"Trust me, Tori, I think you can handle it," Armin replied.

Armin and Tori stood side by side at the start of the course, their gear strapped on tight and their operating devices gripped in their hands. Armin looked excited, but Tori still had her doubts. Standing here next to him and looking down the narrow course made it even more apparent to her how tight the quarters were going to be. She still didn't feel completely confident with her gear, no matter how much Armin praised her, and she didn't want to cause him any more pain today by losing control and crashing into him.

"Hey, so what are the rules here? I've never done this before with someone else. How do you usually proceed?" she asked.

"No rules, just go for it," Armin said, his blue eyes shining on her face. Without another word the boy took off into the sky, leaving Tori behind to try and come up with enough courage to follow him.

 _What was wrong with her? She was usually more adventurous than this! Just follow Armin, just give it a try. What's the worst that could happen? Stop being so stiff and loosen up!_ She shook her head to clear it and finally just pulled the triggers on her grips without letting herself think too much more about it. With a woosh she was propelled forward, and she twisted with the gear, letting herself go once again, and maneuvering with speed and skill. She was so focused on what she was doing that she never noticed Armin come up from behind her, send the steel cables from his gear flying forward to contact the same building she had sent hers, and start gliding through the air right beside her.

"Tori!" she heard him say much too close to her ear. "Great job!"

She snapped her head in his direction and suddenly found herself almost nose to nose with him. His face was literally inches away from hers, they were that close! Her eyes widened with shock and she gasped at how dangerous this was. Every nerve inside was screaming at her to back off, one wrong move and they'd crash. But the expression on Armin's face and the confidence in his eyes kept her from dropping below him. Her eyes locked with his and he smiled as they remained parallel with each other. _Trust me_ , he had said. She held her position until the two of them landed with a thud on the nearest building.

Out of breath he met her eyes again, such joy and excitement was in them as he laughed. "That was the most fun I've had with the gear in a long while! Did you see how close we were! It was exciting feeling like we could collide at any second, but we didn't! You stayed right on course, Tori!"

She couldn't help but smile back, his face was so alive…he was adorable. "You do realize I was in panic mode the whole time," she giggled. "I was sure something bad was going to happen."

"But it didn't and look how well we did," he said. "Want to go try some more moves like that?"

"Okay," Tori said with a deep breath. She suddenly wanted to let go and trust him. She wanted to feel that ecstatic joy he was radiating and she didn't want to be afraid anymore. She didn't want the world to disappoint her and take away her happiness like it seemed to do almost every day. Armin could help keep the disappointment and bad situations at bay; she didn't think there wasn't anything he couldn't do with that smile of his. "Let's do this!"

They took off again, this time Tori let the gear take her wherever it wanted and Armin followed close behind. They swooshed through the air, flipping in all directions and moving around each other with fluidity and teamwork. Armin zipped up from underneath her as she catapulted down and for a few seconds they were right in front of each other, a nose length apart, before they parted with the momentum of the gear. Tori laughed and whipped back around, sending herself twirling around Armin and kicking off of a building with her foot to give herself more air time. Her muscles strained and burned with the complex motions she was making, but she hardly noticed the pain, her eyes were trained on Armin's figure as the two of them tested just how many close calls they could get themselves into.

Armin never thought he could have so much fun with the 3DMG. He had always seen it as an instrument of destruction, its one purpose was to kill Titans and keep its operator out of harm's way. That's how everyone in the regiment saw it. They always used it with such straight and concentrated faces, never once smiling or feeling the joy of zipping through the air. It was all about ranking up and being the best in order to make it into the top ten so they could join the Military Police. Mikasa used it as naturally as breathing and there was nothing new and exciting about it for her. It was just a tool to keep Eren safe. Eren, on the other hand, may be one of the only other people who Armin had actually seen enjoy using the gear. Of course, he was just excited to finally have a way to murder Titans. Then there was Sasha, she made a game out of everything and would whoop with joy when flying through the air…but Tori was completely different from all of them. Armin could see it in her face every time they got close. She was trying new moves and taking more and more risks with each pass, she was laughing out loud and yelling with excitement, she was radiant and beautiful, moving through the air like she was born to fly. Her honey hair whipped freely across her face with each turn and her sky blue eyes sparkled with delight. This was the Tori he remembered, with her little collection of objects in her room and her fascination with the stories and books in the library. He remembered how she had loved to talk about her adventures looking for items to collect and exploring her world with her loyal dog. He was happy to have her back, if only for this brief moment before she let the darkness in her heart take back over.

It wasn't long until the two of them started to get a little too risky with their moves. Tori came around for another pass with Armin. She closed her eyes briefly, feeling the wind brush against her face as she sped through the air…and suddenly had the wind knocked out of her. She gasped in surprise and her eyes snapped back open to see that she had collided with one of Armin's cables. She didn't have time to catch herself as she struggled to take a breath, and was soon falling straight down.

"Tori!" Armin yelled and swooped down to catch her, but his cable missed its mark after the collision and he soon found himself falling as well. He tried desperately to catch himself, but the best he could do was slow his fall before landing with an audible 'oof' right on top of something soft.

It was a good thing they had pillows down here in case people fell during training…wait, pillows? Armin immediately opened his eyes and found that he had landed, not on pillows, but on top of Tori who had fallen right underneath him. His eyes widened in shock and she stared back at him, a little dazed.

"Oh God! Tori, are you alright? I didn't hurt you did I?" he panicked.

"Huh? Armin? Um…I'm alright. I didn't fall that far and I think you slowed yourself down well enough to prevent too much damage," she replied, still trying to breathe a little easier after she had the wind knocked out of her.

"You're sure? I'd hate to think I'd hurt you, I'm sorry."

"Armin, it's fine," she finally smiled. "That was really fun, though, wasn't it? Sorry I wasn't watching where I was going and got all tangled up. "

"It was my fault too, I thought I could get away with getting that close to you and I wasn't watching what you were doing," he returned sheepishly.

She looked up at him with the same genuine smile on her face and a laugh in her sparkling eyes. Her face was flushed and she was still breathing heavily, and he could feel her chest rise and fall against him. He gazed back at her, admiring her excitement and enjoying being so close to the joy she was radiating. _Wow…she's perfect_ , he thought.

"Uh, Armin? Is there a reason you're still laying on top of me?"

Armin's eyes widened instantly and his face turned the darkest shade of red it had ever been. He had been so enraptured by her that he had forgot how much of a compromising situation they were in. His face was inches above hers and he could feel her breath and her warmth against his cheeks. Her eyes searched his, trying to figure out what was wrong with him and why he had frozen up.

"Uh, sorry!" he nearly yelped and shot up in a sitting position, rolling off of her and trying to hide his heated face.

"It's alright, Armin, you couldn't control the way you landed," she said, sitting up and blushing as well.

"Thanks…you're sure you're okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine."

"Alright, maybe we should call it a day?"

"Yeah, we probably should."

Armin stood up and offered Tori his hand, which she took, and he helped pull her to her feet. She wobbled slightly, but seemed okay otherwise, and he quickly dropped her hand, trying desperately to keep his embarrassment under control. They gathered up their gear and started walking back to camp while an awkward silence slowly drifted between them.

"So, did you like my moves out there?" Tori asked, trying to lighten the tense air that had somehow developed.

Armin caught on real quick and replied, "They were pretty sweet, but not as good as mine."

"No way, you're nowhere near as fast as me," she laughed.

Armin laughed as well, thankful for the relaxation he was starting to feel after all that awkwardness earlier. He brushed the disturbing new feelings he had experienced aside and focused on their new conversation. This was how they usually got along, friendly chatter and easy going discussions. It felt more normal and natural than how close they had been before.

When they came to the point where they had to part ways, each going to their own quarters for the night, Tori stopped and thanked him for the fun they had. "It was really great, Armin, I haven't felt that happy in years," she said.

"No problem, I had a great time too…but maybe you could tell me why you haven't been happy for so long?" he asked, taking a chance while her mood was so high.

Unfortunately, his comment seemed to bring back old memories, and her cheerful face darkened a little. "Yeah, maybe I'm ready to tell you…just not tonight."

"No problem. I'll…um…I'll see you later, and sorry again for landing on you and…yeah," he muttered nervously.

"It's already forgiven and forgotten. 'Night," she said with a smile and then turned away from him and made her way to her quarters.

Armin let out a deep breath and watched her walk slowly away. Forgotten? What had she meant by that? Didn't she feel any of the strange things he had felt when they had been so close to each other? How could she just forget them like that? They were eating him up inside as he tried to forget how soft and warm she had felt underneath him and how her chest had pushed up against his…and her eyes…the sky wasn't even that blue. He shook his head, trying to clear it, telling himself that it was just an infatuation because she was a girl and he had never really been that close to a girl before. He wasn't going to screw up the friendship he had worked so hard to slowly build back up. She was _so_ close to fully trusting him and telling him about her past and what was troubling her. He couldn't throw this awkward situation into the mix as well.

Disgruntled and confused, Armin walked back to his quarters and put up his gear. He made his way to his bunk and flopped into it, glad there was no one around to see his flushed face, and tried desperately to think of anything other than the way Tori had smiled at him and the new warmth he had felt.

* * *

"Listen up, pansies!" Shadis yelled at the 105th regiment as he paced back and forth in front of them. "Now that you've all passed the gear initiation we are going to start to get more intense with your training."

Tori smiled, thinking about the shocked look on the commandant's face when she had, not only passed the 3DMG test, but did it faster and with more skill than her entire regiment. In fact, the whole regiment had stared at her with opened jaws as she sauntered confidently off the course when she had finished it. They wouldn't be making fun of _her_ anymore!

The cadets now stood in front of their commander, soaking in sweat from the hot day but all ready to take on the next challenge. Tori felt disgusting. She wasn't used to being so sweaty and dirty all the time. Back home she had access to water whenever she wanted it, and it was important to the people of Wall Sina to keep clean. Here they were dirty and smelled bad most of the time, and what was even worse was the shower situation. It was communal, which wasn't a problem for any of the girls except for her. No privacy at all. Just standing in a giant room filled with shower heads, butt naked in front of all the other girls on the training grounds. Tori still wasn't used to it; everything at home had been hers and had been private, especially since she had been an only child for so long. She wasn't used to sharing, and she certainly wasn't used to being around rambunctious naked girls who made games out of splashing water around and tackling each other in the shower. She had actually started waiting until everyone was done before taking her turn in the water, and she was certainly miffed by the fact they usually didn't get to clean themselves until the end of the day and had to walk around dirty and sweaty until then.

The other cadets teased her about her strange habits, calling her "princess" even more often and constantly making cracks about her embarrassment in the shower. They made fun of her during training too, because she was so soft from years of easy work and had never performed hard labor tasks. She hurt herself often and her delicate skin would give way much more easily than the tougher skinned cadets who had worked their entire lives. There were other little things too. The way she ate her food with the upper-class manners her parents had taught her, and how she was constantly irritated with the few choices of food they actually had. How she was nervous and unsure around the large crowds of cadets in the mess hall and how she would usually sit by herself in a corner unless Sheila forced herself upon her. She tried to be nice and friendly, but it was really hard shaking the image that so many people already had about her in their minds.

Tori sighed, Armin was the only one who didn't give her strange looks or make fun of her or talk about her behind her back. When she was with him she never felt judged or ridiculed. She felt like she could be herself…the self she had been back when she had first met him. She smiled, thinking of the fun she had the other day when they had trained on the course together. When they had crashed she hadn't gotten that feeling of fear she had felt when she crashed on her own the first time. Because she was with him, it had been alright.

She felt a blush start to rise in her cheeks as she remembered how close they had been; his eyes had shimmered in the light above her and his pretty golden hair had fallen forward around his face. She had to resist the urge to reach up and feel the softness of it in her fingers, that wouldn't have been right…they were just friends and she couldn't let those strange stirrings in her chest take control just because they had gotten close.

"Hand to hand combat!" Shadis yelled.

Tori snapped her head up at the loud words her commandant had just yelled to the regiment, pushing daydreams of Armin from her mind before someone noticed and she got in trouble. There were audible moans from the rest of her regiment at his words and she glanced around, confused at what was going on and hopeful that she could catch Sheila's attention in order to find out.

"Sorry, what's everyone so upset about?" she asked the auburn haired girl.

"We were all hoping to start learning how to use the blades with the 3DMG gear today, not some useless hand to hand combat! Like I'm going to go up against a Titan with only me fists!" Sheila whispered.

Hand to hand combat? Oh, great, just another thing for her to suck at. She wondered if Armin was any good at it.

"At first, I will be pairing you cadets up into a four person team and you will practice the moves we teach you with that team until you have learned how to effectively defeat your opponents. After that I will team you with some cadets from the 104th regiment so you can test yourselves against opponents with more skill than you," Shadis explained. "We _will_ continue daily runs, exercises, and 3DMG training as well, but for today I want to see you punks out there hitting each other! Now listen up as I call your names for your teams, I do _not_ want to have to repeat myself!"

Tori listened as he called off four cadets at a time and indicated they would be in a team for practice. Finally he got around to her name, and she blinked in shock when she heard who she had been paired with. "Haize, Henson, Quinn, Morres!" Shadis shouted.

Tori glanced quickly at Sheila and she did the same at Tori. Rose Quinn and Erika Morres were their partners?! Rose basically hated everyone's guts and Erika never really said much to anyone. Rose was the one who had said the most insulting and vicious things to Tori, like she resented her for something. This was going to be a lot harder than Tori had even dreamed. Rose was going to tear her apart, physically and mentally, and even with Sheila there to support her she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to handle it.

Rose stood farther down the line from Tori and Sheila, but when she heard her named called, she immediately turned her dark gaze on Tori and gave her a smirk. _Oh shit._

* * *

Armin sat in class listening to the instructor, and was once again paying absolutely no attention to what the man had to say. His mind wandered to Tori, wondering what she was doing right now and wondering if she thought about the moment they had shared as much as he did. Probably not, but it couldn't hurt to wonder. His eyes flickered out the window and he thought he could see the 105th regiment lined up in the training field far off in the distance. Today was the day of the 3DMG test for the 105th, and he knew she would pass with flying colors. He imagined what she would look like, zipping through the air, hair swirling and eyes sparkling like they did, as she surprised everybody with how good she had become.

He walked back to quarters when the class was over; sighing because he'd have to look up what the lecture had been about in his borrowed library books since he hadn't been paying much attention. Oh well, he'd be able to figure it out well enough on his own. The sun was hot and the air was muggy, causing the cadets to sweat more profusely than normal, but Armin hardly noticed the sweltering heat, he had too much on his mind. He also didn't notice the approaching footsteps until he was grabbed from behind by a very large broad framed blonde.

"Aaah! Reiner! Let go of me!" Armin struggled and gasped, but the large arms held him still and the rest of the group soon formed around him. Connie stood in front of him, a mischievous grin gracing his face, while Bertolt and Marco stood nearby.

"Not until you explain what's been going on between you and that cute little blonde from the 105th regiment," Connie teased.

Armin blushed and tried to get away again, but Reiner held his arms tightly behind his back and there was no escaping the muscled grasp. "Wh-what makes you think there's anything going on?"

"Um let me think…the fact that you're blushing redder than a tomato and avoiding the question…oh and Annie told us she saw you two together on the training course," Connie continued.

"Annie said that?" Armin wondered. Since when was Annie a gossiper? She usually acted like she didn't care about anyone or anything.

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter, what matters is you answering the question," Reiner added in.

"Guys, you can probably let him go, you don't have to hurt him," Marco said.

"Oh, yeah, sorry Armin," Reiner replied, releasing him.

Armin rubbed his bruised arms but didn't try to make a run for it. The boys had him circled and he didn't want Reiner to grab him again. He'd better just tell them the truth, there wasn't any harm in it, and it would get them off of his back. "I'm sure you know by now that she's an old friend of mine. She needed help training and I was helping her out."

"Is that all?" Connie pressed. "You sure there's not something else going on between you?"

"I swear, that's all. Besides, what would I have to gain by lying to you now? It's obvious you know about me spending time with her, and if there was something going on between us don't you think I'd have bragged about it by now?"

"I guess," Connie shrugged. "But I know you, Armin, you're not really one to brag."

"What about when he starts talking about all that science and technical stuff like he knows more than we do?" Reiner asked.

"That's not Armin bragging, that's Armin just being his weird smartass self," Connie explained to Reiner.

"Hey! What are you guys doing to Armin?" Sasha yelled from across the compound. She walked up to the group of boys, two loaves of bread in her hands.

"Yeah, can't you heartless bastards pick on someone your own size? He's just too cute to harass like this," Mina Carolina winked as she followed behind Sasha.

Armin couldn't believe this. Here he was, cornered by some of the biggest blabber mouths in the camp, and they knew about him and Tori. _Thanks a lot, Annie!_ If he just remained cool and played it off like he was just helping a younger cadet, then maybe they'd let it go and wouldn't drag Tori into this. He couldn't imagine what she think if these buffoons from his regiment started harassing her about spending time with him.

"It's just weird, you know…Armin spending time with a girl. The only girl he ever has long conversations with is Mikasa! That's why we _had_ to know," Connie explained to the two girls who had just arrived.

"Wait, what?! Armin's got a girlfriend?" Mina exclaimed. Sasha suddenly squealed with excitement at her words and nearly dropped her precious bread.

"No! It's not like that, I've been trying to tell you, we're old friends and I'm helping her out. She's helped me a lot too," Armin tried explaining, but his friends weren't listening.

"I wonder what she's like?" Mina crooned.

"Probably just as smart and nerdy as he is," Connie added.

"I've seen her too, she's pretty cute," Reiner told them.

"Maybe we should go introduce ourselves?" Bertholt finally contributed.

Armin didn't know what to do; he couldn't get them to stop! He was afraid they might spontaneously saunter on over to the training field right now to go talk to Tori. No telling what they may do with Connie and Sasha in the mix. Thankfully he was saved my Eren and Mikasa as the two friends he always had to count on came to save his butt again.

"Didn't you hear Armin? She's not his girlfriend. I met her and she seemed liked the kind of girl who wouldn't really want to be in any kind of relationship, so quit your gossiping," Eren growled after seeing the distraught look on his blonde friend's face. Mikasa stood in the background with a stern look.

Though Eren had said it to deter his friends from picking on Armin and Tori, for some reason his words hurt Armin a little and made him wonder if Eren was right, Tori probably wasn't looking to be in any kind of relationship. But why should that matter? They were just friends anyways, right? Why did he have this strange feeling down deep that he wanted to perhaps be closer than friends with her? They hadn't been training for very long, but Armin already looked forward to every little moment he had the chance to spend with her and he thought about her constantly when she was away. Was that normal? He didn't know, he had never been this interested in a girl before.

"Calm down, Eren," Mina said. "You're always so over dramatic."

"We were just having a little fun, man," Connie added.

"It doesn't matter if she's his girlfriend or not, it would still be nice to meet her," Marco said. "Especially if she's Armin's old friend."

"Yes! I bet she's sooo nice!" Sasha exclaimed.

"I'm sure Shadis will team us up with the 105th regiment soon enough. He likes to challenge them with tougher opponents and give us the opportunity to practice leadership skills," Armin assured them. "You can meet her then, but I think it wouldn't be appropriate to just walk over there now and barge in on their training session just to meet a friend of mine."

"Armin's right," Bertholt said. "Come on, we better go before someone sees us slacking off and makes us run some laps or something."

Some in the group groaned and others nodded at his words of wisdom and hurried back to the barracks. Armin walked with Eren and Mikasa and the green eyed boy asked him, "You okay Armin? Looked like they were bothering you pretty bad."

"Yeah, I'm fine Eren. You really didn't have to do that; I could have found a way to handle it."

"It's alright to ask for help, Armin," Mikasa said.

Armin looked away, still bothered that they always had to be there to pull him out of sticky situations. Then something came back to mind and he asked, "Hey, Eren, did you really mean what you said to them, about Tori and relationships?"

"I kind of just made that up, I don't know that much about her, but she looks like she may have gone through some rough spots in her life and she probably just needs some time away from her old life to get back into gear," Eren said thoughtfully, then he smiled at Armin and said, "But hey! If she ever did decide to get serious about someone, I'm sure it would be you!"

"Me?!" Armin exclaimed, blushing again.

"Aha! So you do like her?"

"I really meant what I said, Eren, we're just friends."

"But you might be starting to feel something a little more than friendship hmm?"

Armin looked away, too confused and embarrassed to answer. Is that why he had been daydreaming about her and why he had reacted the way he did when he had fell on top of her?

"There's one thing that's for sure, Armin, she _does_ like you, even if it's only as a friend. But that's how it all starts isn't it?" Eren winked. "What do you think, Mikasa?"

Mikasa shrugged, "I think Armin needs to figure this out on his own. It's what he's good at; thinking things through and coming up with answers."

Armin turned his head again so his friend wouldn't see too much of his heated face. "Maybe we should talk about something else? Um…how about the lecture today? Did you understand well enough, Eren?" he said trying to desperately change the subject. He wasn't sure how he felt and he didn't really want to discuss it right now, it was all too new to him and Mikasa was right, he felt like he needed to roll it around in his head a little before actively talking about it.

Eren's mood immediately soured and he started ranting about how dumb it was they had to do book work when they should be out learning how to kill Titans. Armin chuckled at his friend's exasperation and focused on listening to him in order to get Tori out of his head.

A petite, light blonde figure with a unique curved nose watched the three friends walking and chatting together on their way back to the barracks. After they had disappeared from view, Annie made her own way back to her barracks alone.

* * *

 **Hey there Readers! I apologize for any typos there may have been, my sister was distracting me while I was trying to proof read this. Anyways, thank you all for the great reviews! Cookie Ninja: Thanks for reviewing my chapters! MaybeAYoutuber: No problem, glad you're still around! Armin is absolutely adorable isn't he :)** **. Mr. Icecream03: Thanks for reviewing; I'm excited you enjoy the story!**

 **As always, read, review, lemme know what you think! See you next time!**


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